Green Building Blog

If you are considering or in the process of applying for LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance (LEED EBOM), you will want to know about LEEDuser’s “LEED-EBOM Stress Test – Credit-by-Credit Readiness Review.” This comprehensive road-map is 85 pages of tips and tools that will make it easier to get more points for your LEED EBOM project.  

I just drove a Prius for the first time - it was terrific.

What Are the Differences between ASHRAE’s bEQ Labeling and
ASTM’s BEPA Standard and How Will They Affect Your Business?

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) is the organization that formulates the energy, ventilation and thermal comfort codes that become a part of the building codes of most of the states through the ICC (International Construction Council). At the ASHRAE convention in New York City in January, 2008, there were several seminars on the legal ramifications of green buildings.  In June of 2008, Lexis Nexis, the reference guide of many attorneys, published a book entitled “Current Critical Issues in Environmental Law: Green Buildings and Sustainable Development”. This book, which I co-authored with two attorneys, explained USGBC and LEED® Guidelines, mentioned various state and federal incentives for green buildings and pointed out some of the complexities for owners, architects, engineers and contractors relative to designing and constructing them.

In 2003, I attended my first GreenBuild Convention, held in the new convention center in Pittsburgh, a very Green Building. At that convention there were approximately 4,000 attendees and less than 100 exhibitors. At the 2010 convention, only 7 years later - and in those distressed economic times - there were more than 28,000 attendees and almost a thousand exhibitors.