“From Outcome to Implementation” – That was the theme of the first universal session of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Governing Council and Global Ministerial Environment Forum (GC/GMEF), which convened on Monday . The agenda for the meeting, open to all 193 UN member states for the first time, sought to create a framework for the implementation of the Rio+20 “The Future We Want” outcome document.
The following is a guest post by Alex Dodds, Online Communications Manager at Smart Growth America.
The biggest real estate investor in the United States isn’t Donald Trump, and it’s not a private equity firm.
There sure has been a lot of talk about the federal government’s use of LEED lately.
Last week, the National Research Council released a report that reaffirmed what we’ve been saying all along—that LEED makes good economic sense. They recommended that the Department of Defense should require its new buildings or major renovations to be designed to achieve at least LEED Silver certification.
Recently, the city of Minneapolis became the latest city to lead by example in improving building performance by requiring the benchmarking and disclosure of energy and water usage for the city’s public and commercial building stock. USGBC supports benchmarking initiatives through the Mainstream Building Benchmarking Campaign and applauds the city’s move.
“Let’s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Last night, President Obama issued a challenge to transform the way we construct, manage and operate our buildings.
“I’m also issuing a new goal for America: Let’s cut in half the energy wasted by our homes and businesses over the next twenty years,” said President Obama in his State of the Union address.
In 2012, green buildings sprouted up across Illinois like wild flowers (let’s say violets, since we’re talking about the Land of Lincoln.)
In fact, last year the state certified 156 LEED projects, representing 25 million square feet of real estate. In total, the state now has more than 700 LEED certified projects, representing more than 140 million square feet of real estate. That’s the equivalent of 30 Willis Towers.
Since the horrible and ghastly tragedy in Newtown, CT, schools across the nation are engaged in one of our country’s most important conversations – school safety and security. For the sake of our children (and I have two in school), it’s paramount that we get it right.
Finding ways to better share monthly aggregated energy data from utilities to building owners and operators is critical to understanding and improving building performance across our country. But it’s easier said than done, requiring cooperation among local industry stakeholders including building owners, utilities, governments and advocacy groups. On Jan. 24, a group of these stakeholders from across Minnesota gathered in Minneapolis to discuss ways to improve the flow of building data in the state.
Earlier today, GSA released a request for information (RFI), publicly lauding the value of green building rating systems like LEED and asking for additional input into important issues that could help GSA accelerate and improve its green building work. With the direction laid out in today’s RFI, it looks like GSA is on the right track to continue its success.
Chair of Senate Public Works Committee Sends a Strong Signal by Introducing Federal Building Efficiency Bill
On the first day of the 113th Congress, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, sent a strong message about the committee’s focus by introducing several measures, including legislation aimed at promoting energy efficiency in federal buildings.