Once upon a time there was a voluntary, market-driven green building rating system called LEED®. In accordance with the intent of its drafters at the U.S. Green Building Council, it allowed developers to evaluate the feasibility of pursuing a third-party green building certification for a particular project based on a standard set of prerequisites and credits and then make an informed decision about whether or not follow the green brick road and design and develop accordingly. Along comes one municipality after another that decides that a voluntary market-based incentive to build certified green buildings is not enough. While many in the building industry cringed at the thought of mandatory LEED regulations for many reasons, they had little idea that it could actually get worse. Case in point: San Francisco’s mandate of LEED on acid for redevelopment projects.
October 23rd, 2008 | Paul D'Arelli | 0 comments | ContinuedSan Francisco
Planning a Green Getaway? Eco-Friendly Hotels Abound Across the Golden State
The weather here in New York has been miserable of late, so it’s tough not to think about skipping town for a few days to sunnier skies. If you’ve reached that point already, Gregory Dicum of the New York Times recently visited four green hotels in California, including the Gaia Napa Valley Hotel, about which [...]
December 29th, 2007 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
San Francisco’s Proposed Green Building Legislation: Progressive or Plain LEED Creep?
At a press conference last week that was held at Tishman Speyer’s LEED Silver hopeful 555 Mission Street, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom proposed municipal LEED legislation that, if enacted, would be among the most rigorous in the country applying to private construction. Mayor Newsom has vowed to fast-track his signature on the legislation should [...]
December 20th, 2007 | Stephen Del Percio | 1 comment | Continued