gbNYC

Before we get the ball rolling here at gbNYC in 2009, I’d like to wish all of our readers a very Happy New Year and thank you for continuing to make this site such a success during 2008.

A year ago, as 2007 drew to a close, we wrote that the New Year promised to be “fascinating” for green building, both locally and across the rest of the country. I think our prediction turned out to be an understatement for a variety of reasons, including the reaction to our analysis of the Shaw Development case and the ongoing credit crisis; 2009 promises to be no less of a wild ride.

We’re looking forward to sharpening our focus here at gbNYC over the course of 2009 on the design and performance of green buildings while presenting the legal and regulatory aspects of sustainable design in much greater detail over at the Green Real Estate Law Journal .

We haven't been keeping to our regular posting schedule here at gbNYC for a few reasons, the most significant of which is a major technical glitch on our back end that we're furiously trying to iron out. Accordingly, we've decided to take a break for no longer than the rest of the year to get our house in order. In the interim, you can find us over at the newly launched Green Real Estate Law Journal , where we'll be exploring many of the green building legal issues that we've presented to you here at gbNYC over the course of the past two years. Our first post includes a link to the most recent issue of the Counselors of Real Estates' Real Estate Issues , which is devoted exclusively to articles discussing the risk management side of building green. If you print it off, it will likely keep you occupied until we're back in business here at gbNYC. In any event, I apologize profusely for our technical problems but will let you know once we're back up and running- please forgive us for the inconvenience.

It's no surprise that this week’s edition of Crain’s reports an increasing number of real estate brokers, marketing professionals, and, yes, lawyers, who are sitting for the U.S. Green Building Council’s exam in pursuit of the LEED Accredited Professional ("LEED-AP") designation. (The article is not yet available online). Depending on the industry, though, professionals are divided as to whether LEED-AP is a true value-addition. For example, John Seitz, a principal at architectural firm HOK, told Crain’s that “[t]he LEED system is for people who put the building together,” while Sally Wilson, CB Richard Ellis’ global director of environmental strategy, claims that her LEED accreditation has helped her garner five brokerage accounts that are seeking green office space in Manhattan, including one for Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management (as we previously reported here at gbNYC).

Of particular interest to me is that Crain’s perceives the legal industry as recognizing the risks associated with the LEED rating system. It refers to one attorney who has “been studying for the accreditation test because the environmental standards could lead to new types of litigation. He foresees disputes over whether new buildings actually meet the environmental codes and who is responsible if they do not.” The article notes that an architect, who was designing a green residence, retained this particular attorney to draft a contract to protect the firm in the event that construction “doesn’t measure up” to the plans.

Again, these types of issues are not surprising (we’ve written about them previously) but it’s significant that as mainstream a publication as Crain’s is recognizing them in such stark terms.

Earlier this summer, host Vanessa Rae and RiverWired’s Pulse profiled the Bronx Zoo’s new eco-friendly restrooms, which we’ve written about previously at gbNYC. The video does a great job of presenting the details behind the restrooms- which, according to Crain’s, feature eighteen composting toilets that cost $250,000 each- and describing exactly how the fixtures function, conserve energy, and interface with an adjacent graywater garden. As Ms. Rae points out, the U.S. quietly flushes 100 billion tons of solid waste and 32 billion gallons of water daily. Though not the sexiest of green building measures, efficient wastewater management is a powerful ally in the battle against environmental degradation.