Become a Fan
Follow us on Twitter
Green Building Codes
Posted by Walt Vernon on December 15, 2009 at 3:10pm
One of the things that is so clear to me is that the bulk of climate change law flies under the radar, and is ignored in conversations over cap and trade and global warming. One of the best examples of this is in the creation of green building codes.
I am sitting right now at a meeting of the Sustainable Building Technology Committee. This is one of the committees of the ICC; International Code Council. These are the guys who publish the International Green Building Code, International Mechanical Code, etc. which form the basis of most building codes in the United States these days. These guys are in the process of trying to create a model Green Building Code, which can be adopted by various authorities having jurisdiction.
Efforts like this are proliferating. A couple of years ago, Massachusetts began to require that all hospitals achieve LEED silver certification or equivalent levels of performance from the Green Guide for Healthcare in order to obtain a DON. California created its own Green Building Code, with a section of all voluntary measures for hospitals, but with mandatory measures for most other kinds of buildings. ASHRAE began work, a number of years ago, on its standard 189.1 and 189.2 - proposed model Green Building Codes for commercial buildings (189.1) and for hospitals (189.2). Most of the various energy bills now before Congress, both Democrat and Republican contain a requirement similar to this: “shall promulgate regulations establishing national energy efficiency building codes for residential and commercial buildings.” And, now, this (maybe some other day I will share my cynical views on the sources of this proliferation).
The point of this post is to be aware of yet another way in which climate change regulations are creeping into the mainstream. People owning or developing buildings must be aware that the building codes are moving steadily towards more and more requirements for greener and better performing buildings. These regulations are overlapping, and different, and if different ones are adopted in different jurisdictions,it will create yet one more challenge to those who own buildings in multiple locations.
Subscribe to our Newsfeed