Green Business Law
Brooklyn’s First Boutique Hotel Goes Green in Boerum Hill
Hersha Hospitality’s Nu Hotel, which opened earlier this month, is Brooklyn’s first boutique hotel. Located at 95 Smith Street, the 93-unit property is Hersha’s third hotel after the Duane Street Hotel in Tribeca and Philly’s Independent. Although it’s unclear whether the hotel will seek any LEED or other third-party green building certification, it does offer various eco-friendly features, ranging from organic bedding to custom furnishings crafted from sustainably harvested and FSC-certified teak wood, as well as cork flooring in each guest room. Hersha is also offering bike rentals and storage for guests that are serious about their carbon footprint.
Popularity: 5% [?]
22Jul2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Cabbies Concerned Over Bloomberg Bid to Turn Fleet Hybrid
Early last week, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the city has struck a deal with several major automobile manufacturers to guarantee a monthly supply of hybrids to New York City’s taxi drivers, securing 200 Altima hybrids from Nissan, 50 Malibus from Chevy, and 50 Ford Escapes. The purpose of the deal is to place New York cabbies at the front of the line for the hybrids, which are currently in high demand all over the country. 1300 of New York’s taxis have already gone hybrid, saving drivers precious fuel money and, of course, reducing the city’s carbon emissions. The 300 figure was crafted to exceed the 210 per month that the Taxi and Limousine Commission estimates are necessary to satisfy new fuel efficiency standards for the taxicab fleet (25 miles per gallon beginning in October). Still, the plan is being met with some resistance.
Popularity: 7% [?]
21Jul2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Industry Groups Launch Legal Challenge to Albuquerque Green Building Codes
Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Energy Conservation Codes were signed into law back in January, but their implementation was delayed until July 1 after industry groups voiced concerns during the spring that the Codes were, among other things, preempted by federal law. The Codes purported to raise the standards on the installation of HVAC equipment for all new and retrofit commercial and residential projects to a Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ration (”SEER”) of 15 (for air conditioning) and an annual fuel utilization efficiency (”AFUE”) of 90 percent (for heating). The suit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico by, among other plaintiffs, Air Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute.
Popularity: 16% [?]
15Jul2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
New York City’s First Green Billboard Set for Times Square
Times Square is about to receive New York City’s first green-powered electronic billboard. Tokyo-based Ricoh Company, Ltd. will install a 47 by 126 foot sign on the Reuters Building (3 Times Square, at the northwestern corner of 42nd Street and 7th Avenue) that will draw power from 45 solar panels and 4 wind turbines. In what should be an interesting twist, if the photovoltaics do not receive sufficient sunlight or winds are not strong enough to drive the turbines, the sign will simply not illuminate. According to Ricoh, the installation should account for a reduction of 18 tons in carbon dioxide per year.
Popularity: 39% [?]
3Jul2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
New School to Prepare Students for New York City Green Business Sector
In the fall of 2008, the New School will begin offering a multi-disciplinary program in Environmental Studies. Students may choose to take either a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies, and each brings its own level of specialization. The new program will be administered by the New School’s Tishman Environment and Design Center, which is currently the main area of environmental studies at the university. It will focus on New York City as its laboratory, with a special emphasis on urban ecosystems and sustainable design.
Popularity: 18% [?]
27Jun2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Geo Wash Franchise Partners with Zipcar, to Make Gotham Debut at Chelsea Piers
By the end of next month, Manhattan will boast New York City’s first Geo Wash franchise at the Chelsea Piers parking garage. Marc Martilotta- one of three partners in the fledgling operation- saw Geo Wash during a trip to Costa Rica last year and bought the rights to a New York state franchise back in September. Geo Wash requires less than one quarter of a gallon of water to wash a car; conventional car washes can use upwards of ninety gallons.
Popularity: 18% [?]
24Jun2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 1 comment | Continued
The Liability of Building Green: GBI & ED+C to Sponsor Summer-Long Webinar Series
On Tuesday, June 24, the Green Building Initiative and ED+C magazine are sponsoring the first in a series of three webinars examining the various liability issues that construction industry stakeholders may confront in connection with green projects. I will be presenting on next Tuesday’s panel- titled “Risk and Liability in the Construction Industry”- and providing an overview of potential causes of action that could be asserted against (or brought by) green project participants.
Popularity: 25% [?]
19Jun2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
$105M Solar Loan Program Approved in Garden State
On Tuesday, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (”BPU”) approved PSE&G’s $105 million Solar Loan Program, which will provide $105 million towards financing photovoltaic systems across residential, multi-family/affordable, commercial, industrial, and non-profit/municipal buildings throughout New Jersey. The program will distribute loans to projects totaling 30 megawatts in solar power generation over the next two years on a first-come, first-served basis, though caps do exist for each sector. (For example, only 3 megawatts are available for affordable housing projects). Participants will pay back the loans, which will cover 40 to 60 percent of installation costs, either with cash or through Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (”SRECs”)- tradable certificates issued by BPU each time a solar power system generates 1 megawatt-hour of power (i.e., the amount of energy equivalent to a 1 megawatt power system running for one hour).
Popularity: 11% [?]
11Apr2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 1 comment | Continued
Green Construction Law: As Legislation Proliferates and Insurance Issues Emerge, Is Green Building’s Future Being Compromised?
An insightful letter to the editor that suggests many potential green construction law issues appears in the February 2008 issue of The Construction Specifier magazine. Written by Anne Whitacre of Gehry Partners’ Los Angeles office, A Different Perspective on Green draws attention to the LEED mandates that continue to be enacted in the author’s hometown of Seattle. In the letter, Whitacre raises her concerns about both local green building incentives and public mandates; her comments ring particularly salient in light of the recent Managing Risk in Sustainable Building conference at DePaul’s Real Estate Center in Chicago a couple of weeks ago, as well as freshly proposed Seattle-based legislation that would expand a green building mandate at the county level.
Popularity: 36% [?]
19Feb2008 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued
Green Realty Trust: Nation’s First Green REIT is on the Horizon
The prospects for the first completely green Real Estate Investment Trust, or REIT, are closer to becoming reality. A well-known pioneer in the commercial real estate industry has registered an offering with the SEC for a REIT called Green Realty Trust, Inc. As reported first by CoStar Group, Rob Hannah, CEO and co-founder of TSG Real Estate, a Chicago firm, has made what appears to be the first foray into an all-green REIT. Green Realty Trust has devised an investment strategy that aims to meet the need of increasing demand by commercial users and tenants for green standards by increasing the supply of green buildings for lease. The REIT has set up a Green Advisory Council made up of industry experts that will provide analysis on possible acquisitions. According to the CoStar article, Hannah plans to focus the REIT’s acquisition efforts on existing buildings rather than new construction to try and narrow the list of direct competitors.
Popularity: 28% [?]
6Feb2008 | Bryan Dempsey | 4 comments | Continued
Eco-Patent Commons: Fertile Ground for Future Green Building Technologies?
Open-source collaboration has fueled the explosion of web-based software applications for years, but what about its potential for developing next-generation green building materials? Several global businesses, including IBM, Sony, Pitney Bowes and Nokia, recently announced their efforts to share patented environmental practices with the public by pledging their environmental-friendly patents to Eco-Patent Commons, a new website hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (”WBCSD”). The patents, which must either directly or indirectly protect the environment, will be searchable and freely available to all members of the public. WBCSD hopes that the effort will lead to collaborative innovations in energy efficiency, pollution prevention, increased recycling capacity, and the creation of more sustainable materials.
Popularity: 5% [?]
17Jan2008 | 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 […]
Popularity: 22% [?]
20Dec2007 | Stephen Del Percio | 1 comment | Continued
Green Insurance Law: Industry Thoughts on BIM and LEED Coverage for Design Professionals
Last week, the AIANYS Statewide Advisory Committee and the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York sponsored the 2007 Annual Joint Session on Current Insurance Issues for Design Professionals. Speakers from a number of prominent insurance companies, including Lexington, Beazley, Zurich, CNA, Liberty, and XL shared their thoughts on the current state of the […]
Popularity: 32% [?]
11Dec2007 | Stephen Del Percio | 0 comments | Continued-
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