Not taking the "LEED"

Every once in a while I get reminded of things that frustrate me. Actually that happens pretty much daily these days. My temper is stupidly short and it’s driving me crazy. Anyway that’s my problem, not yours. The issue at hand today is LEED and the value that it is “supposed” to add to a project. I was sent this interesting article on LEED and it really got me going. You know what its crazy how much power this thing has. I have mentioned in passing on past posts that many people think I should spend more time talking about LEED then ripping the NFRC and you know what I think they may be right. But for the time being I think the bloom is coming off the LEED rose. Building owners are going to surely want more from their building than a big gigantic plaque on the wall and if LEED’s changes don’t deliver that it surely will be interesting on how this thing progresses in a tough market.

Elsewhere…

-- By the way, can anyone answer how 500 miles is the “magic” distance in the LEED world? As a biddy mentioned to me, why 500 and not 400 or 600? What’s the science?

-- Speaking of LEED, correction here- last week’s post about Kawneer’s LEED blog attributed the column to Les Seasholtz, it was actually written by Eddie Bugg. Sorry for that, always want to give credit where credit due.

-- And last on this… for this week anyway… anyone going to GreenBuild? Hey at least it’s Phoenix in November and considering it’s already winter in the Midwest that’s an enticement for sure.

-- Saw the excellent article/interview with Tom Harris on USGNN last week. No doubt this is a good man, class act and someone who will surely be heard from again in our industry. You have to have a ton of respect for what he’s accomplished that’s for sure.

-- NFRC… its election time and guess what… they have 4 seats open and 4 candidates running! Now that’s an election baby! Just when you think this group has turned the corner some (John Lewis) they screw it up and can’t have a normal election…(hmmm I wonder why?) A few years ago when we were fighting for change the NFRC election had the most candidates and most votes ever… then they kept the status quo- we couldn’t get traction (for obvious reasons- like having Marcia Falke run in a category that should be fabricators) and now you have a totally worthless election… yep somewhere Marc LaFrance still thinks this group represents a consensus of our industry despite the fact no one wants anything to do with it because it will never be able to be changed. Anyone with a hint of logic knows better…. Anyway I am telling everyone to vote for Mr Abstain…. Afterall “abstain” almost won a few years ago….

-- Funniest part for me is TRACO keeps their seat that Mike Manteghi held for the last few years by sending his co worker Sneh Kumar. Just remember when you get caught in the NFRC mess what company helped push it…. And don’t worry I’ll remind you if you forget. And I know people at TRACO hate me, they share that with everyone out there… and that’s fine but I sleep well at night that I fight hard for the industry I love. (And sadly I am sure I'll get in trouble for saying it, but this is MY opinion.....so when you get mad my TRACO buds, stay mad at me...)

-- Baseball is down to its “Final Four” and I gotta think the powers that be would kill for a Yankee/Dodger series… the ratings would be unreal. Now if they could get the games to last less than War & Peace it would be really awesome.

-- Does the stock market amaze you? Over 10,000 and yet credit still virtually frozen and unemployment is rampant. Just very odd… I am not an econ guy so I just don’t get why certain things happen. But this one is pretty mystifying to me.

-- My “favorite” Senator Olympia Snowe was all over the news this week… beware folks, wait til she throws in some goofy provision in the health care reform at 3AM because someone told her it was a good idea… scary how much power some people have…

-- I swear I’ll be in a better mood next week! If not I may be sleeping on the back porch.

Off to the Links….

Links from the hardest working woman in the blog-world… the “Link Chick”…

-- Want Yankee tickets? Mortgage the house… twice…. Great piece here about greed and loyalty.

-- Pet Bear kills a woman…. Ummm since when did a Bear become a pet?

-- MUST READ.. the Top 10 “Bubbles” due to burst… #1 on the list is good and bad….

Video of the Week:

This week the video comes via my brother…. Very funny and crude that’s for sure… not sure I’d belong to this club…