November 15th, 2009 / 1 Comment
On Thursday this week I got the chance to attend my first Green Build Conference. The venue was huge and there must have been over 1000+ exhibitors and vendors. I was hoping that there would be some auto dealerships (Toyota and Audi to be specific) looking to get LEED certified so in that respect I was disappointed by the conference. However, the sheer amount of people and vendors at the conference (especially considering the current economic climate) indicated that green buildings is definitely a trend that will continue.
Interesting Display at Green Build
Main Exhibition Hall
Posted by Fan Ding in Commercial, Residential
November 9th, 2009 / 0 Comments
Bill Walton, one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players and a Hall of Fame member, stopped by our office last Friday. He’s very interested in clean technology and about preserving the environment and was interested in what our company is doing to accomplish that goal. As you can imagine, Bill was very charismatic and shared with us some of his life experiences and lessons learned and how we as individuals within a GD team can help ourselves as well as make the team stronger. While not everyone here at GD is as passionate about the NBA as yours truly, I think we were all in a way inspired by the talk. For me, it was an honor to meet an NBA legend (yes I did get a signature on a basketball but hey what was I supposed to do?) and to learn how passionate he was about clean tech. I hope that he can join the GD team in some way and help us achieve more.
Posted by Fan Ding in Uncategorized
November 5th, 2009 / 0 Comments
As many folks don’t know, there are two clean energy bills being discussed in DC as speak. The Health Care reform has dominated the press but these bills could have a similar or greater impact on our country.
The first bill, HR 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, also known as the Waxman-Markey Bill, passed the House in June 219-212. This bill aims to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in the United States by 17 percent by the year 2020 (using 2005 levels).
A second bill that also is receiving criticism is Senate Bill (S) 1733, the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, also known as the Boxer-Kerry Bill.
Both bills, summarized on the Web site GovTrack.us, plan to “create clean energy jobs, promote energy independence, reduce global warming pollution, and transition to a clean energy economy.”
Alternative-energy sources like wind, solar energy and biomass will receive funding and a focus in the bill.
Renewable sources, such as biomass — waste products including straw, dead trees, tree branches, and animal waste that can be converted into fuel, electricity, and heat — have the potential to lessen America’s dependence on oil and gas.
Posted by Courtland Weisleder in Climate, Commercial, Investment Banking, Research, Residential
