A pending lawsuit alleges that the USGBC and its LEED standards are false advertising. Bob Faulhaber, who is himself a LEED, AP defends this green building certification system pointing out how it has succeeded in raising awareness and increasing involvement in developing and promoting green building techniques and that it has helped to promote an integrated approach to design and construction that has in fact lead to more sustainable buildings.
Despite all the headlines, and a bit of hype, in the world of commercial real estate, the number of green buildings is relatively very small and not growing at a significant rate. Only 2% of all new building construction projects receive LEED certification. Lets look at reasons why building sustainability is stalling and what can be done.
Meet Adam D Granz. Before getting into energy efficiency, Adam D. Ganz worked in real estate. He is a former real estate broker, property Manager and escrow officer. In this capacity, he represented clients in the buying, selling, and leasing of commercial and residential property, managed over 2 million square feet of commercial and residential property and conducted residential sales transactions and refinances totaling over $55 Million for 80 clients. Since getting his MBA, Adam has taken on the role of Energy Efficiency Program Manager at Willdan Energy Solutions. Read about how he changed his career path to a green one with an MBA in sustainability. Don’t forget to check out our entire Green MBA series.
I am going to be honest with you, I have been sitting on some LEEDigation-related stories. I sat on these stories because I wanted to understand the implications before writing about them.
Green buildings provide long-term savings and solid returns on investments. they also command much more than similar non-LEED buildings due to the economic benefits they offer. Soon Class A office buildings that do not attain LEED certification will see their property value decline as LEED becomes the de facto benchmark in measuring quality in construction.
Green design and construction is a career arena in which there are not an abundance of women being represented, yet we found a number of women working in these sectors and leaving their distinctive mark. Below are profiles of 10 women who we believe are pioneers in the green building and design field.
Has the MUSH market gone cold? This post examines the current and potential market for providing energy management services and building retrofits to municipal (state/local government) facilities, universities, K-12 schools and hospitals. It also looks at some of the ongoing barriers into the MUSH market while highlighting a handful of success stories by sector.
The six keys to driving change in a conservative corporate culture include: top-level support; management-level and administrative support; minimal risk; a clear path; bottom-line value; and political awareness.
Stephen Hinton, provides a compilation of professionals that will see growth as the US economy goes green. He predicts that those in STEM professions (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) will experience the most job security.