Voters in the San Francisco Bay area approved a new annual property tax of $12 per parcel aimed at mitigating the effects of climate change.
The measure, which passed with 69% of the vote, is expected to raise a half billion dollars over the next 20 years. Some opponents said the flat rate was unfair because it taxed everyone at the same level, but proponents said the $1 a month tax was not onerous.
About 80% of the Bay’s marshes have already been lost to development, according to reports. One study estimates there is $62 billion worth of property at risk from climate change in the Bay Area.
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Fast food franchises are taking the LEED
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| Mar 8, 2011
Building, energy performance rating site launched
The Institute for Market Transformation and the Natural Resources Defense Council announced the launch of BuildingRating.org, the world’s first comprehensive resource on energy performance rating and disclosure policies for commercial buildings and homes.
| Mar 8, 2011
BlueCross HQ campus awarded LEED Gold
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee announced its certification as a LEED Gold campus, established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). BlueCross’ headquarters, totaling 950,000 square feet of office space, is the largest LEED Gold corporate campus in Tennessee, and the second largest in the nation.
| Mar 2, 2011
Design professionals grow leery of green promises
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| Mar 2, 2011
Top 10 states for LEED green buildings
According to the U.S. Green Building Council's 2010 list of top 10 states for LEED-certified commercial and institutional green buildings per capita (based on the U.S. 2010 Census information), the District of Columbia leads the nation, with 25 square feet of LEED-certified space per person in 2010. Nevada, being the leading state, has 10.92 square feet per person in 2010.
| Mar 2, 2011
The extraordinary growth of green building—A rebuttal to an article on why green building adoption is slow
In this rebuttal to The Green Building Adoption Rate is Slow, Find Out The Practical Reasons Why, the author argues that in fact the growth rate has been very high and that much of it came during a time of economic unrest and tight capital, which makes it all the more extraordinary.
| Mar 1, 2011
Smart cities: getting greener and making money doing it
The Global Green Cities of the 21st Century conference in San Francisco is filled with mayors, architects, academics, consultants, and financial types all struggling to understand the process of building smarter, greener cities on a scale that's practically unimaginable—and make money doing it.
| Mar 1, 2011
USGBC's new LEED Interpretations similar to old precedent-setting CIRs
This week the USGBC launched its long-awaited LEED Interpretations process and database. LEED Interpretations are like project-specific Credit Interpretation Rulings, but unlike those CIRs, they can be applied to multiple projects. LEED project teams with a unique situation or a question not answered by existing LEED resources have had access to CIRs since 2009, but those CIRs have been limited. With the launch of LEED Interpretations, the USGBC hopes to broaden its scope.
| Feb 25, 2011
Denver excelling in LEED green building development
The mile high city has a decidedly green tinge. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) today noted that nearly 30 projects in Denver have achieved LEED green building certification since 2010 and two of these developments achieved LEED’s highest rating, Platinum.
| Feb 25, 2011
Procter & Gamble will pursue LEED for all new sites globally
Procter & Gamble will pursue LEED certification for all new sites. P&G's Taicang plant in China - which is breaking ground today - is the first P&G manufacturing site to pursue LEED certification, with several additional new P&G sites currently working toward the same distinction globally.
