Sustainable Development Focus
Commercial Property Executive - Oct 20 Green energy continues to advance, with a major milestone set for November 1. That’s when the U.S. Green Building Council unveils its new version of the 16-year-old Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program that created an international standard for sustainable buildings and communities. The new version raises the bar on increasing energy efficiency and covers more sectors, like data centers.
PV-Tech - Oct 20 A new report from the Solar Energy Industries Association released last week announced that retail company Target stands as the top corporate solar installer in the country. Adding more PV energy this year than any other U.S. retailer, Target now boasts 147.5 megawatts of installed solar capacity. This news stands as the first time that Target has ranked first overall in the report’s five-year history.
Environmental Leader - Oct 18 Within the past week, two corporations in two different sectors, Ford and PepsiCo, have committed to drastically reducing their water use in manufacturing. Ford, which has set a long-term goal to use zero potable water in manufacturing, plans to reduce its water use by nearly three-fourths by 2020. PepsiCo has pledged to improve the water use efficiency of its direct manufacturing operations by 25 percent by 2025, compared to 2015 levels. Both companies plan to employ several water-saving technologies to achieve these goals.
East Bay Times - Oct 14 Three affordable housing projects in Oakland are being awarded almost $50 million under a state program that promotes sustainable land use and transportation planning along with greenhouse gas reductions. Coliseum Connections, a 110-unit mixed-income, multi-family project near the Coliseum BART station, will receive $14,844,762; the project, by UrbanCore Development LLC, includes repurposing an existing BART parking lot. Resources for Community Development’s project to rehabilitate and preserve the Empyrean and Harrison hotels will receive $16,807,556. The project is supposed to be 100 percent affordable, and it includes new bike lanes, a bike share station, and purchase of a new hybrid bus in partnership with AC Transit. LakeHouse Commons, a 91-unit affordable housing project at Lake Merritt Boulevard and East 12th Street, will receive $18,127,203. The project, a partnership of the East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation and UrbanCore, will include bus, bike, and pedestrian infrastructure connecting the project to downtown, uptown, and East Oakland. The grants come from Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities, a local assistance program supported by the California Climate Investments (CCI) & Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund of the California Strategic Growth Council. Revenue for the CCI Fund comes from proceeds of the California Cap-and-Trade Program Auctions.
World Property Journal - Oct 18 According to the third annual Green Building Adoption Index Study by CBRE Group, Inc. and Maastricht, institutional owners of office buildings continued to pursue green building certifications in the 30 largest U.S. markets during 2015. Continuing an upward trend over the past decade, green certifications are now held by 11.8 percent of all surveyed buildings, representing 40.2 percent of all office space. Both figures are slightly above last year's results. The San Francisco market claimed the top spot with 73.7 percent of its space qualified as green certified. Chicago claimed the second spot, narrowly trailing the leader at 72.3 percent, and Minneapolis fell from the top into the third spot at 60.6 percent. Houston, Atlanta, and Los Angeles all also achieved more than 50 percent green certification in their office markets.
E&E News - Oct 18 When politically conservative Lancaster passed the mandate in 2013 to require solar on new single-family homes, it was the first of its kind in the nation. It was also at the front of a trend. Starting next year in San Francisco, all new buildings 10 stories or less must add solar power. Sebastopol, in Sonoma County, and Santa Monica, in coastal-adjacent LA County, also passed mandates now in effect. Other places, including Carlsbad in north San Diego County, are looking at the solar mandate as an option to meet climate goals. The mandates appear unique to California, although other places in the country, including Corvallis, Ore., are examining the requirement as an option, said Alex Hobson, senior communications manager at the Solar Energy Industries Association, a trade group.
