Examining the most important issues in achieving the goal of building more efficient and less damaging buildings, this book highlight the significant statutes and regulations as well as other legal issues that need to be considered when advising clients in the development, construction, financing, and leasing of a green building. Topics include federal incentive programs, financing, alternative energy, site selection, land use planning, green construction practices and materials, emerging legal issues, and the effects of climate change on planning and architectural design.

In early 2009, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) released a white paper that claimed green building legal risks are merely 'old wine in new bottles'. However, in identifying a variety of the typical claims that are asserted in connection with construction projects, USGBC's effort fell short of elevating the analysis of green building legal issues to the level necessary for policymakers and project teams to make informed decisions about legislative activity and project-specific risk management. The paper concluded by suggesting that 'conjecture, anecdote, and even rumor swirl around recent presentations, workshops and discussions circling the question of what legal claims may be based on the design, development, and construction of sustainable buildings'. This book will definitively address the potential for such legal claims in way which will allow stakeholders to fully appreciate and evaluate the legal issues that may - and indeed already have - ferment into 'new wine.'

The legal and economic landscape for building and development have fundamentally been altered by the country's major environmental problems - climate change, deforestation, loss of biodiversity, ozone depletion, pollution, and unsustainable natural resource consumption rates. The editors provide practical information for lawyers to assist their clients in fully understanding green building and sustainable development concepts so they can operate successfully in the evolving economic and regulatory environment while minimizing the potential cost penalty of business-as-usual practices.

In countries such as the UK, the energy used in constructing, occupying and operating buildings represents approximately fifty percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Pressure to improve the environmental performance of buildings during both construction and occupancy, particularly to reduce carbon emissions from buildings, has become intense. Understandably, legislation and regulation are driving green development and compliance. And this is happening in a wide variety of ways. This review of the law in key jurisdictions for the research community, lawyers, the construction industry and government examines some of the mechanisms in place – from the more traditional building regulation controls to green leases and the law relating to buildings and their natural environment. Members of the CIB TG69 research group on ‘Green Buildings and the Law’ review aspects of the law relating to green development in a range of jurisdictions.

This is the 2015 edition of a casebook for an advanced law school course on the emerging law of green buildings. Everyone wants new buildings to be green and old buildings to be "greened". What will this mean for legal agreemens? What will be other legal consequences? Students identify and analyze types of green issues affecting every type of real estate transaction and construction project. They consider, also, legal and policy issues of green legislation which mandates compliance with green rules or creates incentives for green development and sustainability. In short, the course provokes answers to the question, "what is the role of the lawyer in the green revolution?" In short, in this course the students address green issues as lawyers.

This book is a detailed practitioner's guide to everything from green terminology -- the "language of green" -- to complex issues of real property law, liability and due process.

The primary focus of this text is to provide a bridge for students between the academic world and the real world. This bridge is built through an understanding of what is law, how law is created, how law affects almost every activity of human conduct, and how legal institutions operate. Intended mainly for architectural and engineering students, but increasingly for those in business schools and law schools, this text features a clear, concise, and jargon-free presentation. It probes beneath the surface of legal rules and uncovers why these rules developed as they did, outlines arguments for and against these rules, and examines how they work in practice. Updated with the most recent developments in the legal aspects of architectural, engineering, and the construction processes, this text is also a valuable reference for practitioners and has been cited in over twenty-five court decisions. Important Notice: Media content referenced within the product description or the product text may not be available in the ebook version.

Written by pioneering attorneys in the emerging fields of urbanism and green building, A Legal Guide to Urban and Sustainable Development for Planners, Developers and Architects offers you practical solutions for legal issues you may face in planning, zoning, developing, and operating such communities. Find information on legal issues related to urban form, legal mechanisms and ways to incorporate good urban design into local land regulation, overcoming impediments to sound urban design practice, and state and Federal issues related to the legal issues of urban design and planning.