According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA), healthcare facility owners and organizations spend nearly $8.8 billion on energy each year to meet patient needs.  To improve energy efficiency, thousands of hospitals rely on the EPA’s Energy Star tools to help track consumption and prioritize facilities for energy upgrades.

Last week, EPA released an important

Earlier this week, I received an alert that "Five AIA Contract Documents are going green!" Developed using AIA’s flagship documents as a base, and incorporating concepts and model language from the AIA’s Guide for Sustainable Projects, the new documents address the unique roles, risks and opportunities encountered on sustainable design and construction projects.

 “The development

Initially filed as a class action suit in October 2010 against the USGBC, Henry Gifford’s lawsuit took a turn this week when he filed an amended complaint.  The original lawsuit alleged violations of the Sherman and Lanham Acts for “deceiving users” of the LEED rating system.  The lawsuit questioned whether "LEED buildings use less energy than conventionally-built

Angela R. Stephens

 Today’s guest post is by Angela Stephens, a fellow construction attorney in the Construction Service Group and Green Law Group at Stites & Harbison PLLC. She is a LEED Accredited Professional and is the first attorney in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to achieve Green Advantage® certification.

 Sustainable Design and Construction raises unique legal issues

It really is impossible to put your arms around the number of green building and energy performance policies and codes that are sprouting up all across the nation.  When a project involves private commercial development or public investment, one of the most discussed issues is whether the cost of obtaining LEED certification from the U.S.

As a follow-up to my post yesterday about the costs of LEED certification, I was not surprised to read the following lead line in a local newspaper in Cary, North Carolina:

"Cary wants to be green. Just not certifiable."

According to the article, the local town council voted to skip the green building certification process because of the high costs.  "If