A recent market research study revealed that Idahoans value energy efficiency. In fact, 65% of them favor energy codes that are consistent with national standards, but less than half trust the State of Idaho to adopt the right energy efficiency standards for Idahoans.
After several days of nonstop cold rain here in the District, it was nice to see the sun shining again on the first day of May. But it was even nicer that day to hear about all the award-winning building projects honored by the General Services Administration (GSA) as part of its Design Awards ceremony.
This week, the House Energy and Commerce Committee pushed for positive change for building efficiency legislation with the passage of H.R. 4092, the Streamlining Energy Efficiency for Schools Act of 2014, and H.R. 2689, the Energy Savings Through Public-Private Partnerships Act of 2013. These bipartisan bills both cleared the committee by voice vote.
Nothing speaks more clearly than good data. The Green Building Information Gateway (GBIG) platform proves this every day. USGBC is excited to announce the release of a supplement to GBIG’s already robust data offerings with an update to the state market briefs. The enhanced state market briefs are dashboards that provide a quick look at state-specific LEED and USGBC data.
On Thursday, the Senate Finance Committee took an important move in advancing draft legislation that would renew a series of tax breaks that expired at the end of last year. The “Expiring Provisions Improvement Reform and Efficiency (EXPIRE) Act;” passed the committee on a voice vote. The EXPIRE Act includes a number of important elements that will continue to enhance the efficiency of the building industry, particularly to the existing Energy Efficiency Commercial Building Tax Deduction 179(D).
Good morning, Washington. Today marks the culmination of almost two years of work and thousands of hours of volunteer time to make the District of Columbia, once again, a national leader in better, greener buildings.
The USGBC-National Capital Region Chapter had this to say about the DC Green Construction Code: “This is a landmark achievement in the history of green buildings.”
U.S. federal government agencies were some of the earliest adopters of LEED. Over the years, we have seen the federal government build, retrofit and operate some amazing green buildings. To date, the federal government has certified 1,031 buildings to LEED, and another 3,000-plus projects are in the LEED certification pipeline. But with shrinking budgets and numerous requirements on their plates, these agencies need help to streamline their reporting as much as possible.
To accommodate the expected increase in urban population of 2 billion people before 2030, will require the equivalent of 200 new cities the size of Paris.[1]
We know there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Simply put, trust must be earned.
This is where third-party certification comes in. It holds businesses accountable for what they say is true, and it signals to consumers that the product meets certain standards so that they can make educated decisions about what to buy. Third-party seals of approval can communicate other things as well, such as the values of the company or the class of the product.
This week, the House of Representatives took a major step in advancing building efficiency legislation with the passage of H.R. 2126, the Energy Efficiency Improvement Act. This bipartisan bill cleared the House on a vote of 375-36.