San Francisco is considering a green building ordinance that would require most new commercial and residential high-rises to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. The proposed ordinance would transform the construction industry across northern California, impacting everything including paint shops, subcontractors, suburban neighborhoods, sand pits and gravel quarries.  San Francisco officials say they want to get tough because the operation and construction of buildings account for half the city's CO₂ footprint. If passed, the ordinance would be the most far-reaching in the U.S.

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The city considers rival plans to implement mandatory green design standards for new residential and commercial buildings

As LEED projects become more prevalent, some important issues may be left off the table during the contract drafting stage, leaving owners, architects and contractors vulnerable to disputes. For instance, LEED certification means more restrictions on which materials a contractor can use, and sometimes even on where the contractor can acquire the materials - both factors that can create costly delays and lead to disputes. And with many contractors seeking to make their names as LEED construction experts, and many developers heavily publicizing their under-construction LEED buildings, the possibility of failing to achieve the desired level of LEED certification constitutes significant "reputational risk," said Bryan Jackson, head of the Construction Transactional Group at Allen Matkins.

The Federal Building in San Francisco, designed by Thomas Mayne, is seen by some as a green building nightmare.  The building lacks heat or air conditioning.  In what the New York Times once described as "the greenest federal building in the nation's history" also reportedly has one the worst work environments.  While some describe the building as "magical" and with a "sense of airiness," others find the lack of internal climate controls as leaving some workers too cold and others too hot.  Other design problems include dysfunctional elevators that stop at every third floor and an employee cafeteria located across the street from the building.  The elevators and cafeteria location reflect Mayne's desire to get workers walking.  Additionally, the building has no LEED approval.  Originally designed to enhance workers' productivity, the functional inadequacies of the Federal Building have caused some workers to see the building's design as more of a science experiment than an innovation in green design.

Popular Science ranks local municipalities across the U.S. who have been taking steps to make their cities green.  The rankings are based on four discrete factors: electricity, transportation, green living, and recycling and green perspective. Electricity points were given for cities that draw their energy from renewable resources and for the ability for residents to invest in their own power sources. Transportation was based on both the air quality and the number of commuters who used mass transit or carpooled. Green living referred to the number of buildings within the municipality that were certified by the U.S. Green Building Council, as well as the number of public parks and nature preserves. The final category, recycling and green perspective, measured how thorough a city's recycling program was and how important residents considered environmental issues.  The top 10 cities are:

1. Portland, OR
2. San Francisco, CA
3. Boston, MA
4. Oakland, CA
5. Eugene, OR
6. Cambridge, MA
7. Berkeley, CA
8. Seattle, WA
9. Chicago, IL
10. Austin, TX

Design teams pursuing certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED green building rating system can now view the "Innovation & Design Credit Catalog."  This online Catalog lists green building strategies that have been submitted and utilized on LEED Certified projects. The Catalog "inspires new ideas and solutions that yield environmental benefits," said Brendan Owens, Vice President of LEED Technical Development. "By publishing the catalog of credits online, we hope to inspire further breakthroughs in the green building industry."

Wal-Mart recently signed an agreement with the National Governors' Association to provide energy audits for government buildings in state capitol complexes around the U.S. The public-private partnership, called "Greening State Capitols" will include a two-day auditing process. Wal-Mart's team of engineering experts will audit capitol facilities to analyze lighting, HVAC, refrigeration, programmable technologies and building structures. After completing the audit, the engineers will report back on recommended upgrades, their costs and projected energy savings and impact on the environment. States taking part in this program will hire a team of four or five experts to supplement the engineers sent by Wal-Mart.

After three years of continuous upswing in solar power revenues, topping $0.8 billion U.S. in 2007, a report from the U.S. Solar Energy Market indicates that several factors favorable to the industry will propel the market to triple digit growth, to reach nearly $2 billion by 2012. Despite strong factors favoring the solar energy market, major obstacles must still be overcome before it reaches the mainstream. Obstacles include potential supply shortages, unfavorable legal structures, utility barriers and lack of skilled laborers.

The U.K. will announce a call for all future non-domestic buildings to be zero carbon, according to reports. In December 2007, the U.K. Green Building Council released a report concluding that all non-domestic buildings could be zero carbon by 2020. Buildings ranging from schools to hotels to light manufacturing plants would have to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions. The announcement will turn Britain from "laggard to leader," according to Paul King, the U.K. Green Building Council Chief Executive. France has also set a requirement that all new buildings must produce more energy than they consume by 2020, The Independent reported.