BOMA has been involved in promoting energy efficiency for years, Henry Chamberlain, president and COO of BOMA, tells GlobeSt.com. "We feel working with USGBC is a wonderful wedding of two different audiences."

This partnership was formalized at last month's Greenbuild Conference and Expo, which was held in Denver, in a Memorandum of Intent signed by representatives of both organizations. BOMA has been designated a Top Tier partner with USGBC, which means it will be working with USGBC on program development for future Greenbuild conferences.

Joint promotional activities BOMA and USGBC will undertake include collaboration at BOMA's North American Commercial Real Estate Congress and the Office Building Show in New York City next July and USGBC's Greenbuild Conference and Expo in Los Angeles next October, according to a statement the two organizations released. The two groups will also collaborate on developing Web-based seminars about energy efficiency and green building practices. "We plan to educate each other's audiences, introducing new concepts in this area," Chamberlain says.

The alliance comes as more and more jurisdictions are adopting green building legislation that is based on USGBC's standards. Earlier this week, Washington, DC passed legislation that will require both the private and public sector to adopt environmental friendly building standards, as reported by GlobeSt.com.