Van Ness Feldman is proud to have assisted the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to produce a report that was released today entitled, “Better Buildings Through Executive Action:  Leveraging Existing Authorities to Promote Energy Efficiency and Sustainability in Multifamily, Residential and Commercial Buildings.”  The report identifies over 35 executive actions across 23 agency programs that President Obama can take to propel economic and environmental benefits of green building without the passage of new legislation. 

This report builds on a report with which the firm assisted USGBC in 2010 titled, “Using Executive Authority to Achieve Greener Buildings: A Guide for Policymakers to Enhance Sustainability and Efficiency in Multifamily Housing and Commercial Buildings.”  The 2010 report identified over 30 existing federal programs across many federal agencies worth $72 billion which can be modified to enhance efficiency and sustainability. 

Tomás Carbonell, Shelley Fidler and Doug Smith staffed the Van Ness Feldman team that researched and drafted the report in collaboration with USGBC and 15 other sponsoring organizations in energy, housing, environment, real estate, and technology.  The sponsoring organizations are:  Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International; The Energy Foundation; Enterprise Community Partners; Natural Resources Defense Council; HDR, Inc.; Ingersoll Rand; Johnson Controls; Lennar Corporation; National Association of State Energy Officials; National Housing Conference; Schneider Electric; Siemens; Center for American Progress; The Real Estate Roundtable, and United Technologies Corporation.

Click here for the full report.

Click here to read USGBC’s press release, which includes more details on the report.