Green Construction Archives

Effective July 1, 2015, Philadelphia Water updated its Stormwater Regulations for development to meet requirements of the Clean Water Act. The changes claim to improve the health of Philadelphia’s rivers, minimize local flooding, and encourage the use of green infrastructure throughout the city.

The Green Building Certification Institute, which handles certification for the U.S. Green Building Council responsible for LEED Certification, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Parking Institute and the Green Parking Council. The goal of the cooperation agreement is to encourage sustainability in the transportation network that supports green buildings. The ultimate goal is to create and promote a Green Garage Certification program that will apply the same ideas that drive the LEED Certification process in the parking component of construction.

The U.S. Green Building Council has undertaken an effort to produce a series of reports to promote sustainable building and provide those in the green building industry with information and data to support the efforts of both USGBC and those that endorse the use of its standards. The second in that series of reports entitled “Places and Policies” was recently released.

The federal government currently uses the LEED 2009 rating system for construction of federal buildings. By law, however, this must be re-evaluated every 5 years. The General Services Administration has opened a public comment period as part of this re-evaluation process and will be accepting opinions on what system it should use until April.

We previously reported the introduction of HB 34 in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. The bill, which is strongly supported by Republican Representative Kate Harper, has passed the House and now moves to the Senate for consideration.

The Pennsylvania General Assembly is considering legislation that would require the design, construction, and renovation of certain state-owned or leased properties to comply with specified energy and environmental building standards. House Bill 34, the lead proponent of which is Representative Kate Harper of Montgomery County, is largely identical to a bill introduced last session.