Update May 30, 2014

Detroit skyline with Canada across the river.

Mid Year Meeting Round-Up

It was wonderful to see so many of you in Detroit last week. I hope that everyone who attended enjoyed a city that I learned to love before I moved to DC. I would like to give a BIG shout out to the Detroit Regional Chapter for hosting. 

And a special Advocacy hat tip to Debra Sypien, Brett Little, Ian Tran, Davor Grgic, Shannon Stage, Kathleen Kirkpatrick, Jeremy Cohen, Andy Garay, Brian Imus, and Grey Lee for leading on advocacy at Mid Year Meeting.

Federal Update

Last Wednesday, while community service projects were happening all around Detroit, the Advocacy staff, a few members of the Michigan chapters' advocacy committee, and a national board member visited the offices of some of the Members of Congress based in Detroit. It was an excellent opportunity for the chapters to get to know the district office staff of Senators Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, and Congressman Gary Peters. We talked about federal tax incentives for green homes and the future of the Shaheen-Portman energy efficiency legislation. It looks like tax incentives related to energy efficiency for homes and broader energy efficiency legislation in Shaheen-Portman is stalled as we move into the Summer months and deeper into election season. We will update you if and when it becomes unstuck in the Washington political mud.  

Michigan chapter members and board member, Davor Grgic in Senator Carl Levin's office

On the Detroit People Mover

Meeting with Senator Debbie Stabenow's staff

May Advocates Call

Here is the recording for the May Advocates call as well as accompanying Power Point. Thank you to everyone who participated. 

June Advocates Call - Highlight Green Homes/Greening the MLS

Please join us on Monday, June 16th at 4pm EST for our monthly advocates call where we will talk about the green MLS and other efforts to highlight green homes. Here is the link to the webex; it will also add a reminder to your calendar.

Bi-Weekly Potpourri

Building Codes and Green Building

article on the role that building codes play in the green building market online from Builder and Developer Magazine.

Massachusetts School Building Authority and LEED v4

The MSBA Board of Directors approved an updated Sustainable Building Design Policy that was the result of recent revisions to the Massachusetts Energy Conservation Code, the US Green Building Council’s “LEED for Schools” Version 4, and the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (“CHPS”) National Core Criteria.

USGBC on Instagram

Check out our Instagram account. We took the Internet on a tour of our office this week.

USGBC Advocacy Update

May Advocates Call - From Defense to Offense: Tools to help manage tough advocacy situations

We will go over tools available to advocates to help them manage tough advocacy situations. This will be an abbreviated version of the presentation that will be given at Mid-Year Meeting during the Chapter Advancement Summit.

Date:  Monday, May 19th

Time: 4pm - 5pm EST

Link: https://usgbc.webex.com/usgbc/j.php?ED=224635977&UID=507270947&PW=NODdlZjEzNDEy&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D

Preview of Future Monthly Advocates Call Topics
June:     Greening the MLS
July:      Building Codes
August:  Green Schools
September:  Benchmarking and Data Access
October: Affordable Housing
November:   Leadership with LEED/LEED v4 advocacy
December:  Election 2014 wrap/ 2015 preview - federal and state.

Mid-Year Meeting

Hope to see some of you in Detroit next week for Mid-Year Meeting. I will be facilitating a few sessions, as well as being available for questions.

Residential News

Two updates in the green residential world:

1.  A market report released by the National Association of Homebuilders showing that green home building will double by 2016.

2.  An updated version of the Green MLS Toolkit is now available.

USGBC Advocacy Update: April Showers, brings May flowers?

Federal Update

Shaheen-Portman

Last week the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed a pair of efficiency bills to enhance existing federal policy on school facilities and federal performance contracting. USGBC expects these bills to be considered by the house later this summer. A full write up is available here.

Next week the Senate may consider the updated Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, commonly referred to as Shaheen-Portman. Previous efforts to pass the bill have been delayed by procedural issues. Issues related to consideration of the bill and amendments are still being worked out. USGBC will be monitoring the situation and will be updating advocates on possible action.

GSA Announces Its Award-Winning Green Building Projects

GSA announced 20 federal buildings that were recognized for demonstrating the agency’s commitment to leadership and innovation in sustainability.

Anti-LEED Articles

Many of you have read an piece that was recently in Forbes. The article is nothing new and does not bring up any new messages that the ACC and their folks are using against us. Marisa Long, USGBC Communications Director posted on Yammer earlier this year about the best response to these types of articles.

State Updates

Montgomery County Passes Building Benchmarking Ordinance

On April 22, Maryland's Montgomery County—a suburban county bordering Washington, D.C.—unanimously passed a package of nine energy bills that includes energy benchmarking legislation that will now require owners of large, nonresidential buildings to track and report their properties' energy use. The benchmarking legislation will be enacted in three phases. Read more.

Dynamic State Market Briefs

If you have not had a chance to see the dynamic state market briefs, you can take a peek here. These briefs will automatically populate with the most up-to-date green building data in your state. We are continually working on improvements.

#LEEDOn with Boeing

A promotional video from Boeing about their sustainability efforts in South Carolina.