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The U.S. building industry is facing significant challenges: addressing the impacts of climate change; achieving sustainability; assuring asset and community resilience; and managing risk. At the same time, it is widely recognized as a fragmented industry with divergent interests and priorities. The need and the opportunity to address these challenges—that affect the industry and the nation as a whole—has never been more critical, but it must be done through the implementation of strategic and collaborative approaches

The Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) recently has contributed to several victories in public policies that will have a positive impact on real estate management professionals and organizations.

Today the Environmental Protection Agency finalized the centerpiece of President Obama’s groundbreaking climate change strategy, the Clean Power Plan (CPP). The United States’ most ambitious action yet taken to combat climate change, the CCP sets the first-ever limits on dangerous carbon emissions from the nation’s power plants, gives states the opportunity to craft implementation plans tailored to their needs and provides opportunities for new jobs and lower energy costs across the nation.

HousingWire honored Sheila Crowley, President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), as one of this year’s 40 influential women in housing for her leadership on “the nationwide effort to secure funding for the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF), the new dedicated resource for the production of new housing affordable to the lowest income people.”

Marcia Davies, Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has been honored as one of HousingWire's 2015 Women of Influence. The list, in its fifth year, honors "40 leaders who range from servicers and lenders to tech innovators and heads of nonprofit organizations." As COO, Davies is the second highest ranked executive within MBA

“Through its fundamental commitment to flexibility, local choice, and cost-effectiveness, the Clean Power Plan sets the stage for a market-based transformation of the U.S. power sector that promises to help secure the nation’s prosperity for decades to come. In this competition of technologies and ideas as well as dollars and cents, energy efficiency has a remarkable opportunity to demonstrate its superior value proposition as the cheapest, cleanest, quickest, and most reliable way to reduce CO2 emissions and tackle climate change

John P. Fredrickson, MAI, SRA, of Walla Walla, Washington; Jerome Haims, MAI, SRA, of New York; and Richard A. Stephens, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS, of Little Rock, Arkansas, were honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award and Michael V. Tankersley, MAI, SRA, AI-RRS, of Lewisburg, Tennessee, was named the recipient of the Outstanding Service Award during the Appraisal Institute Annual Meeting Wednesday in Dallas.

James L. Murrett, MAI, SRA, of Hamburg, New York, was elected 2016 vice president of the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers Thursday by its Board of Directors in Dallas. Murrett’s one-year term at the Appraisal Institute will begin Jan. 1, followed by one year each as president-elect, president and immediate past president

Members of the Building Systems Councils (BSC) of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) will celebrate National Building Systems Week Aug. 2 - 8 by offering model home tours, demonstrations and much more. This week-long national event aims to educate consumers on the differences between system-built homes versus traditional stick built homes and provide them with the information they need when planning for a new home.

The Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation (CEDAC) seeks qualified organizations and individuals to provide tenant outreach services for tenants currently residing at expiring use 13A properties. This Tenant Outreach Program (TOP) will provide information to tenants at all expiring use 13A developments

In an 18-4 vote, the Senate Energy Committee approved the Energy Policy Modernization Act after three long days of debate this week. Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-WA) worked for months to achieve bipartisan agreement on underlying measures that included national security, production and efficiency.

Thirty-one attorneys general from states nationwide have united in sending a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). They are seeking a delay in the implementation of the controversial “Waters of the U.S.” final rule published on June 29. The rule would significantly increase the permitting requirements, and associated costs, for property owners and developers without necessarily resulting in improved water quality.

Calling President Obama’s signature climate change policy both “historic” and “critically needed,” the solar industry issued its strong support for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan, scheduled to be released on Monday, urging states to consider solar as a clean, affordable, reliable and carbon-free solution

Today The Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC) announced plans to release a draft of the first thermal efficiency test method designed specifically for commercial-sized boilers that utilize solid biomass as a fuel stock (including pellets, chips, briquettes, and cordwood). The project responds to concerns that a lack of reasonable testing standards for biomass systems can make it difficult for specifiers to provide the owner of a biomass system with a clear distinction between the performance of high-efficiency, low-emission equipment and less satisfactory performers

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved two bills that include provisions to advance energy efficiency in the U.S. Most unfortunately and curiously, one of the bills reported also includes an untenable provision that unduly hampers energy efficiency gains by delaying the establishment of new efficiency standards for furnaces.

AGC will be hosting its first ever Utility Infrastructure Conference (link is external), Sept. 29–Oct. 1 in Louisville, Kentucky. Join other contractors, owners and key industry constituents involved in every aspect of utility infrastructure construction for high-quality education sessions, the premier utility construction equipment expo, and networking opportunities

After two years of negotiations, residential green building standards are taking the next step forward. Specifically, the leading building code organizations have partnered to develop a singular green building code. This code combines elements from their various codes and standards – providing jurisdictions with a comprehensive set of green principles for legislative and regulatory approval.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to immediately withdraw final regulations that would dramatically expand the definition of “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act. This renewed call is based on new evidence that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers believes EPA used flawed technical and scientific analysis in crafting the regulation that was so indefensible that the Corps demanded that it be distanced from the rule

The National Association of Home Builders presented the Home Builders Association of Greater Little Rock (HBA-GLR) with the award: Best Membership Recruitment/Retention Plan. NAHB presented this honor at the Association of Excellence Awards Ceremony in Pittsburgh, PA.

The Urban Land Institute (ULI), a global research and education institute dedicated to leadership in land use, is launching a new initiative to help four U.S. cities – Charlotte, N.C.; Detroit, Philadelphia and San Jose, Calif. – better understand what people value in their communities in order to build more livable, successful cities. The initiative will connect the national results of ULI’s biannual survey of consumers regarding housing, transportation and communities to local data and regional trends for each of the cities to help them plan for the future.