How the Kaine Administration is Moving Toward a More Sustainable Virginia: Energy Efficiency and Planning, Climate Change Strategies, and Strategic Investment
By L. Preston Bryant, Jr.
INTRODUCTION
It is true, as it has been suggested, that there is a general deficiency in academic literature on the subject of “green building,” and I do not portend that what I may offer as part of this Virginia Environmental Law Journal symposium will be anything overly scholarly or remotely groundbreaking.
I do, however, want to put the general issue of sustainability into context with four of Governor Timothy M. Kaine's initiatives: (1)Executive Order 48, increasing energy efficiency in state government operations; (2) the Virginia Energy Plan;2 (3) Executive Order 59, establishing the Governor's Commission on Climate Change; and (4) Executive Order 69, creating the Sub-Cabinet on Community Investment. It is from within the spheres of these four initiatives that green building and sustainability are being addressed by the executive branch.
It is true, as it has been suggested, that there is a general deficiency in academic literature on the subject of “green building,” and I do not portend that what I may offer as part of this Virginia Environmental Law Journal symposium will be anything overly scholarly or remotely groundbreaking.
I do, however, want to put the general issue of sustainability into context with four of Governor Timothy M. Kaine's initiatives: (1)Executive Order 48, increasing energy efficiency in state government operations; (2) the Virginia Energy Plan;2 (3) Executive Order 59, establishing the Governor's Commission on Climate Change; and (4) Executive Order 69, creating the Sub-Cabinet on Community Investment. It is from within the spheres of these four initiatives that green building and sustainability are being addressed by the executive branch.