Green Building Focus
gopusa - Oct 13
Interior Secretary Salazar set aside 445 sq. miles of public land for large-scale solar projects. The administration believes the land has fewer wildlife and natural-resource obstacles and has access to existing power lines, all factors plaguing many current solar projects. The plan allows faster utility-scale solar development instead of the slower project-by-project approval process in place since 2005. Salazar announced 17 "solar energy zones” in six states: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico. Half of the land is in Southern California. Also, 19 million acres in "variance zones" will still allow development on a project-by-project basis.
Green Building Elements - Oct 3
It’s known that green roofs can mitigate the heat island effect, absorb rainwater, and improve overall insulation. What new studies have shown, however, is that green roofs can also help solar panel efficiency.
USGBC Official Blog - Oct 4
Senate Bill 3591, the “Commercial Building Modernization Act," extends and improves the existing federal tax deduction (Section 179D of the Internal Revenue Code) so it can easily be used for energy efficiency improvements.
Law.com - Oct 4
"Green" may be beautiful to a company's marketing department, but according to the Federal Trade Commission's new Green Guides, it's not a word to be used lightly. The bottom line: "Don't make claims you can't substantiate," says an attorney who specializes in green-building risk management.
ENR California Construction News - Oct 2
The new 422,166-sq-ft Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco will be nearly three times larger than the museum's current facility at the landmark Palace of Fine Arts. The new building also could be the largest net-zero energy museum in the world according to Nibbi Brothers, the project's general contractor.
World Bank Blogs - Oct 3
At this year's World Green Building Week, hosted by the World Green Building Council, CHF International and USGBC hosted a panel discussion on resiliency in the built environment and its role in addressing the plight of the urban poor, the group most severely affected by low-intensity, high-frequency disasters.
Planetizen - Urban Planning - Oct 4
Many cities have explored light-colored roofs, or "cool roofs," to deal with the heat-producing impacts of dark and impermeable urban surfaces. However, according to a new Arizona State University study, although light roofs reduce urban temperatures, they may also have the unexpected side effect of reducing regional rainfall due to a reduction of the evapotranspiration rates of urban vegetation.
Clean Technica - Oct 4
According to the most recent State Energy Efficiency Scorecard released by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Massachusetts is the most energy-efficient state in the US for the second year.
USGBC Official Blog - Oct 2
After 21,500 comments have been written, received, and responded to, and after tens of thousands of hours of volunteer engagement with challenging issues, which have been resolved into credit language, USGBC is releasing the fifth public comment of LEED v4.
The Serious Speculator - Oct 3
The Ascend Collection membership program from Choice Hotels International continues its expansion with new member properties in gateway cities in the United States and Canada, including the Clifton Hotel, the first LEED Gold hotel in South Beach Miami, Florida.
Biz Journal - Energy & Environment News - Oct 4
A former firehouse in West Little Havana has been transformed into the Miami Green Lab, a training center for local professionals seeking green certification and green resources.
USGBC Official Blog - Oct 3
CHF International, a humanitarian relief and development organization, has been working with slum communities in India since 2003. CHF is improving waste collection and management in the slums of Bangalore, and is helping to raise the dignity of Bangalore’s waste recyclers who had been working informally and were often targeted by police as thieves.
Green Buildings NYC - Oct 3
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues moving forward with plans for a state-of-the-art, LEED-rated facility in Englewood, New Jersey. The meetinghouse would be the first LEED-certified building in Englewood.
Executive Biz Blog - Oct 8
Noblis Inc. has won a new blanket purchase agreement contract with the General Services Administration (GSA) to support the GSA’s green building initiatives. Noblis and the Office of Federal High-Performance Green Buildings will collaborate on the broad dissemination of sustainable strategies in order to help facilitate the adoption of proven high-performance green building technologies and green procurement strategies.
Green Building Projects
Hotel News Resource - Oct 4
The Crash Pad, a hostel in downtown Chattanooga, has earned a LEED Platinum designation from the USGBC. Only three other lodging establishments in the United States have earned LEED Platinum.
Biz Journal - Energy & Environment News - Oct 4
The Memphis Area Transit Authority’s Airways Transit Center has gained high marks for its environmentally-friendly design, earning LEED Silver certification from the USGBC.
Bryan C. Jackson
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Los Angeles
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Andrew M. Ouvrier
Senior Counsel
Real Estate | Wireless Telecom Real Estate
Century City
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