Northwest Real Estate Law Blog : Northwest Real Estate Lawyer & Attorney : Davis Wright Tremaine Law Firm : Land Use, Development, Commercial Property : Seattle, Portland, Alaska, Washington, Oregon

Authored by:  Monique Hawthorne

As published in the Daily Journal of Commerce

As a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional, I readily defend LEED’s standard and certification to critics who question its alleged greenness and whether it lives up to its hype.

"You get points for including bike parking spaces?" they protest. "C’mon!"

Nonetheless, I stand by the usefulness of LEED certification and believe it serves a useful purpose even if it only increases dialogue and awareness about sustainable building.

With that said, recent conversations have led me to explore other types of sustainable building standards and methods. I have been very impressed with Passive House (aka Passivhaus), a building standard from Germany that is an exciting option for builders, homeowners and developers.

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Authored by:  Craig Gannett, Lauren Giles Wishnie, and Clayton P. Graham

On May 27, the Washington Department of Ecology (“Ecology”) released draft Guidance regarding the analysis of climate change impacts under Washington’s State Environmental Policy Act ("SEPA"). The Guidance, which will be open for comment until June 25, proposes extensive analysis of both direct and indirect greenhouse gas ("GHG") emissions potentially resulting from government actions covered under SEPA. Among the government actions that are subject to SEPA’s requirements are local governments’ issuance of land use and construction permits for many types of projects, especially commercial, industrial, or larger residential developments. The Guidance also describes potential mitigation measures that project proponents may be required to undertake. Given the broad scope of the Guidance, it is essential that owners and developers of real estate, as well as any business or institution with expansion plans, become familiar with these proposed requirements.

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Authored by: Monique Lee Hawthorne

As published in The Daily Journal of Commerce

As a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional, I readily defend LEED’s standard and certification to critics who question its alleged greenness and whether it lives up to its hype. “You get points for including bike parking spaces?” they protest. “C’mon!” Nonetheless, I stand by the usefulness of LEED certification and believe it serves a useful purpose even if it only increases dialogue and awareness about sustainable building.

With that said, recent conversations have led me to explore other types of sustainable building standards and methods. I have been very impressed with Passive House (aka Passivhaus), a building standard from Germany that is an exciting option for builders, homeowners and developers. (read full DJC article)

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Authored by:  Alan Middleton

The International Code Council on Monday will release the International Green Construction Code, Public Version 1.0 (IGCC).  The IGCC incorporates ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1, Standard for the Design of High Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, as an alternate path of compliance. The IGCC is intended as an overlay to complement existing codes.  More information is available at www.iccsafe.org.  Release of the IGCC will likely accelerate adoption of relatively uniform green building codes nationwide.  DWT will be tracking developments in local jurisdictions.

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Authored by:  Lauren Giles Wishnie, Kerry Shea, and Clayton Graham

Findings recently issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could be the first step in national regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act. Although the findings apply only to new motor vehicles and engines for the time being, they lay the groundwork for regulating GHGs emitted by power plants and manufacturing facilities.

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The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently announced the details of the much-anticipated Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Version 3 building certification program (LEED v3, also referred to as LEED 2009). LEED, a third-party certification program, is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

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