On December 31, 2011, President Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for the 2012 fiscal year,H.R. 1540. Congress passes a similar act each year to monitor the budget for the Department of Defense. While many Americans may have been aware that in ...

The most common question asked about green office buildings is whether they have higher rental rates than comparable non green buildings? It may be curious to some that the question is not about whether green office buildings have higher construction costs, but that may be ...

Legislation was introduced on November 1, 2011 before the District of Columbia Council that will allow applicants for a building permit to sign “a binding pledge that within 2 years of receipt of the certificate of occupancy the applicant will fulfill or exceed the current ...

Ronald Reagan famously told us that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Maryland, with more LEED® projects relative to its population than any other state, has accomplished that against a backdrop of ...

I have received a number of requests for copies of my Greenbuild Legal Forum presentation and in response I decided to publish my prepared remarks. It has been suggested that green building law is too important to leave to lawyers and with that in mind, ...

The second public comment period on LEED® 2012, the next version of the U.S. Green Building Council’s rating systems, is open through September 14th. LEED is so widely accepted in our lexicon it is hard to believe LEED celebrated only its 11th anniversary earlier this ...

Commercial building owners and tenants who make expenditures to cause their new or renovated buildings to be more energy efficient can qualify for a significant Federal tax deduction. For buildings that qualify, an immediate one time depreciation deduction of up to $1.80 per square foot ...

The Maryland legislature has approved the International Green Construction Code™ making Maryland the first state in the country to authorize use of the IgCC for private and public construction. House Bill 972 sponsored by Delegate Dana Stein garnering wide support, from the real estate industry ...