Displaying 1 - 25 of 32
1
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Although a fraud lawsuit against the U.S. Green Building Council was dismissed with prejudice this week, the larger issues of whether green buildings save enough energy and money to live up to their claims has yet to be resolved (in court).
2
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I covered the messy breakdown of the Carousel/Destiny USA project, which was selected as a green demonstration project under the 2004 Green Bonds program. I've also written at length about creating effective green incentives and regulations. For me, the most interesting part of this debacle is what it reveals about a major green incentive program.
3
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An ambitious but long-stalled project to expand a shopping center in Syracuse, New York, into a green megamall could become the focus of a rash of litigation.
4
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Obtaining financing for any project can be a challenge and securing it for a green building project has its own set of hurdles. Part 3 of Shari Shapiro's green financing series focuses on government incentives, which she warns could soon move from being rare birds to endangered species among financing mechanisms.
5
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Real estate finance forecasters believe 2011 will be a year to buy back into the real estate market. If their predictions come true, structuring financing for green building and renewable energy projects will still require more legal creativity and effort than financing more traditional projects.<br />
6
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Basically, there are only a few mechanisms for financing projects. Self-finance (your bank account); equity finance (someone else's bank account); debt finance (the bank); government finance (Uncle Sam's bank account); and grant finance (<strike>your parents'</strike> third party bank accounts). These mechanisms are no different for green projects, but there are some interesting variants.
7
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The new year brings new policy and regulations. Here’s a look at two that can have a lasting effect on green building and renewable energy and change the landscape for green business operations.
8
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The Builders' Association of the Twin Cities has sued the Minnesota GreenStar certification program over rights to green building guidelines the trade group helped develop.
9
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In New Orleans, I recently met a woman known in the Crescent City as the "Demo Diva," an entrepreneur who took her personal tragedy from Hurricane Katrina and turned it into a woman-owned and -run demolition business, complete with hot pink front loader and giant Dumpster.
10
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A lawsuit against the U.S. Green Building Council and some of its key figures is drawing a lot of attention with allegations that include anti-trust, unfair competition, deceptive trade practices, false advertising and RICO violations. But does the complaint, filed as a class action suit in federal court in New York, have merit?<br />
11
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The Natural Resources Defense Council sued the feds Wednesday to reinstate the PACE program.
12
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Pursuit of a renewable energy bonanza has sparked a fervor akin to Gold Rush fever, and in some unlikely places a Wild West atmosphere prevails.<br />
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13
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Last year, Baltimore passed an amendment to its building code requiring public and private structures larger than 10,000 gross square feet to "be equivalent to" a LEED-Silver level. Exactly what does that mean?
14
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Environmental Scientist Karen Bandhauer of the EPA provides the back story and a closer look at the agency's new online tool for sustainable design and green building.
15
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Local government looking for guidance on green building measures have two new resources: a toolkit from the Environmental Protection Agency that helps municipalities evaluate how regulations help or hinder a sustainable built environment, and a draft of a model municipal green building ordinance, which was issued for comment by the Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School.<br />
16
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Recently there have been several cases of neighbors raising objections, valid or invalid, to green projects. But should David always defeat Goliath? When does collective good trump individual rights in developing sustainable projects?
17
Article
Northland Pines High School in Wisconsin, the first public high school to receive a LEED-Gold rating, will go down in the annals of green building history as the target of the first third-party appeal of LEED certification. Are the parties disputing the certification needling naysayers or constructive critics?
18
Article
Just because a legal dispute arises about a unit in a green building doesn't qualify the case as green litigation. What would? Here's what legitimate claims about green construction defects could look like.
19
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There's a difference between construction claims and green building litigation, and a dispute about a unit in a luxury Manhattan condo development -- where Leonardo DiCaprio and Tyra Banks are among the buyers -- may become famous for pointing out that distinction.
20
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It should be easy to understand which tax codes apply to your firm's renewable energy projects and what the incentive will be. But as with all things related to the tax code, it is not. Here are tips on how to wade through the morass.
21
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I promised a post on the State of the Union, and I’ve realized the issue to address is the degree to which the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches of government delay or derail real regulatory action on climate change and green building.
22
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Many have argued that the Waxman-Markey and ACELA bills go too far -- making the energy efficiency requirements too high. I would argue that the Boxer-Kerry draft of the climate bill for the Senate does not go far enough.
23
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Who shoulders the cost for greening commercial real estate? A report by CB Richard Ellis tackles that question and examines the economics of sustainable buildings.
24
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Maureen Guttman, the executive director of Pennsylvania Governor’s Green Government Council, talks about why the ICC Green Building Code Project is important.
25
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After LEED, Green Globes, BREEM, Energy Star, NAHB Green and the prospective ASHRAE 189, why on earth do we need another green building standard?