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. Spending or committing roughly $450 billion a year, the federal government is by far and away the largest investor in real estate in the country. This spending spans 50 federal programs at half a dozen agencies, and includes everything from loans and loan guarantees to tax credits to low...

“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. By transforming our buildings, we not only help protect our planet, but we help...

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...

What’s better about a brand new year than top 10 lists? There’s already been a 2012 top 10 list for scientific discoveries, for Latin alternative albums, for Michelle Obama’s outfits and even a Top 10 Everything... So in addition to last week’s announcement about the top 10 states for LEED project activity in 2012, I’m here to pile on and add a top 10 list for state policies that propel green building forward. From a set of more than 400 bills that we tracked, at least 88 issue-advancing...

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. The week before that, the General Services Administration (GSA) released a request for information (RFI)...

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. The state’s leadership in green building – from the state house to city...

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. There’s no question GSA has been a leader in energy and sustainability. A recent report showed that GSA has successfully reduced its...

Government leadership is the catalyst for creating a better built environment. By embracing LEED-based policies, or establishing energy efficiency goals for public buildings, governments provide pathways for the private sector to follow. 2012 saw a number of public green building laws enacted across America. A few examples include ordinances passed in places ranging from San Louis Obispo County, Calif., to Arvada, Colo., and all the way to Chatham County, Ga. Currently, government leadership...

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. However, if a building owner wants to benchmark a property, it requires access to the building’s total energy consumption. Believe it or not...

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. Today at our USGBC offices, the Council of Educational Facility Planners International (CEFPI) hosted an important event, the School Security Summit, to help the school community understand the key issues of school security as...

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. S. 52, the Promoting Efficiency and Savings in Government Act, is targeted legislation...

Every day, green building professionals are on the forefront of designing and building a better world. Invariably, I see how their good work spills over into the policy arena. I work with advocates across the country to make sure their expert voice is heard by policymakers, and that we're all working together to put forth the best policies to propel the green building industry. Like the president said in his inaugural address this week, we know society’s ills cannot be cured through government...