Category: Policy and Advocacy
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Fluctuating Wind Power and Efficiency
Incorporating wind power into existing power grids is challenging because fluctuating wind speed and direction means turbines generate power inconsistently. -
Mississippi Advocacy Day
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In growing numbers, USGBC chapters have been directly engaging with state legislatures to enhance their existing relationships and grow new relationships with their state elected leaders. Already this year, several chapters across the country have held advocacy days in their state capitols to support government leadership and support sound public policy initiatives.
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New York’s Alternative Energy Future
But a new study finds that it is technically and economically feasible to convert New York’s all-purpose energy infrastructure to one powered by wind, water and sunlight (WWS). The plan, scheduled for publication in the journal Energy Policy, shows the way to a sustainable, inexpensive and reliable energy supply that creates local jobs and saves the state billions of dollars in pollution-related costs.
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Highlighting the Growth of the Green Building Industry in State Capitols Across the County
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Higher performing, healthier LEED-Certified buildings are becoming the market norm, increasingly demanded by owners and tenants alike. Did policy play a role in this growth? At the state and local levels, the answer is ‘yes.’
States and localities are embracing energy efficiency building policies, adopting rating systems like LEED for public building construction, and incentivizing better building practices in the private sector. The support of USGBC’s network of chapters and advocates has helped guide and prompt good policy making in a variety of ways.
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Highlighting the Growth of the Green Building Industry in State Capitols Across the Country
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Higher performing, healthier LEED-Certified buildings are becoming the market norm, increasingly demanded by owners and tenants alike. Did policy play a role in this growth? At the state and local levels, the answer is ‘yes.’
States and localities are embracing energy efficiency building policies, adopting rating systems like LEED for public building construction, and incentivizing better building practices in the private sector. The support of USGBC’s network of chapters and advocates has helped guide and prompt good policy making in a variety of ways.
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Business Leaders Tell Congress their Success is a Credit to Booming Green Building Industry
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“The business case for building green has already been proven,” said Jim Allen, the CEO of the Sloan Valve Company, at a Congressional briefing last week showcasing how businesses benefit from green building.
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A Nod to Demand Response from the White House
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Two years ago, USGBC had the crazy idea of bringing together both sides of the grid – utilities and technology solution providers AND owners and managers of LEED registered and certified buildings – with the end goal of increasing participation in Demand Response and Smart Grid programs.
And now there’s one more voice to add to the conversation: that of the Federal Government.
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The Silliest Sequester: Pumping the Brakes on Green Building Programs that Save Taxpayer Dollars
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I’m not an economist, but if I am trying to save money, I don’t stop depositing money into my savings account.
I’m not a CEO, but if I had a division of a business that was turning a profit with every dollar invested, I would probably look at ways to increase investment, not reduce it.
But the coming sequester will make arbitrary across-the-board cuts in government program budgets, including extremely successful programs that pay for themselves in energy efficiency and green building. That’s not a very effective way to reduce government spending.
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Innovative Green Building Policy Achieves 23% Reductions in Second Year
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In January 2013, the Metropolitan Government of Tokyo announced the results of the second year of reporting for its cap-and-trade program for commercial and industrial buildings.
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Transforming Minds and Markets under the Capitol Dome
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If you thought we had a lot to celebrate in 2012, just brace yourself for 2013. Green building advocates have already mobilized for policy action in South Carolina, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Arkansas, Iowa and Colorado. I was fortunate enough to join the USGBC chapter-led advocacy efforts in Des Moines and Denver last week, and I think we’re on the verge of something big.