Leanne Tobias

Should your travels take you to Taos, New Mexico, I hope that you will visit El Monte Sagrado, a distinctive resort and spa that blends beauty with sustainable innovation. As the holidays approach, let me take you on a virtual tour of this very special green place, a fitting modern companion to the nearby and timeless Taos Pueblo.

El Monte Sagrado is owned by the Kessler Collection Hotels and was developed by Tom Worrell, a publisher, businessman and philanthropist.

Worrell created El Monte Sagrado well before sustainability became a buzzword; it was expanded in 2006. The property is distinguished by its thoughtful and imaginative use of natural materials and native...

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The December 15 rollout of the Obama energy team spurred Andrew Revkin, author of the New York Times's Dot Earth blog, to question leaders in environment, policy and economics on whether the global climate change challenge could best be addressed as a regulatory problem (cap and trade) or a technology challenge (carbon sequestration, non-polluting fuels). The answers, from an impressive roster of luminaries ranging from Princeton's Robert Socolow (the progenitor of the "climate wedge" method of addressing global warming-reducing emissions through a variety of available approaches, each approach being a "wedge") to experts from the Natural Resources Defense Council, the...

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You'd already guessed it … but now it's official: The U.S. has been in recession since December 2007. The official announcement was made Monday, followed by yet another drop in the Dow.

My own belief (and the economic consensus is moving in this direction, too) is that public fiscal stimulus is needed stat. Ben Bernanke has tried his best with monetary policy, but the interest rates controlled by the Fed are so low that there's not much left to cut.

One quick fix is available to either the current Administration or to the incoming one, and it's a green one: Complete the pending Department of Energy regulations requiring federal agencies to buy and supply only Energy Star or similarly...

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Real estate and green technologies remain front and center this week in U.S. economic news.

On the crisis containment front, the U.S. government has mounted a $326 billion rescue of Citigroup, including a fresh $20 billion cash injection and the guarantee of up to $306 billion in troubled mortgage-backed securities. In return, the taxpayers receive $7 billion in Citigroup preferred stock at an 8 percent dividend. Here's the term sheet for the Citigroup rescue. One refinement from previous bailouts: Citigroup must suspend dividend payouts and restrict executive compensation absent federal approval.

In economic stimulus news, green strategies remain front and center. In a November 22...

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Sustainability in Uncertain Economic Times: A Report from the CoreNet Summit

As corporate America seeks to control real estate costs during a time of economic crisis, are green buildings still relevant? I've just returned from participating in a panel at CoreNet's 2008 Global Summit in Orlando, which examined just that.

The panel was led expertly by Michael Jordan, national practice leader for energy and sustainability consulting at Jones Lang LaSalle, who created a lively dialogue between an audience of corporate real estate executives and Peter Miscovich, managing director for strategic consulting at Jones Lang LaSalle; green real estate consultant, author and thought...

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