
ICC Urges Feds to Include Green Construction
Code to Design, Build New Government Buildings
July 30, 2010
The International Code Council (ICC) encouraged the U.S. government
to reference the International Green Construction Code (IGCC)
in an effort to apply sustainable design principals to the design
and construction of new federal building.
"Prior to this year, voluntary 'rating' type programs were
among the only options for guiding the design of green buildings,"
said ICC CEO Rick Weiland testifying at a U.S. Department of Energy
(DOE) Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) public hearing. "Such
programs, including LEED, were not designed to act as regulatory
language. The gap between existing codes and rating systems has
now been filled
. [and] are now available to address federal
goals as well as meet the needs of state and local jurisdictions."
The ICC also offered specific comments to improve the usefulness
and measurability of the proposed rule, Energy Efficiency and Sustainable
Design Standards for New Federal Buildings. The IGCC, Weiland said,
is a tool available to federal agencies for efficiently and rapidly
achieving measurable levels of compliance with FEMP goals.
Industry support signals a consensus of key industry leaders around
the necessity of a code to guide green construction, Weiland said.
In addition the Code Council, IGCC sponsors are the American Institute
of Architects (AIA), ASTM International, the American Society of
Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE),
the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Illuminating Engineering
Society.
"Our colleagues at the USGBC, the organization that originated
the LEED standard, have publicly called for the adoption of the
IGCC and described this new set of tools as allowing new versions
of LEED to appropriately act as the ceiling in green construction
while the IGCC serves as the floor." Weiland said. "In
short, the IGCC is the result of a collaborative effort of hundreds
of green building experts, integrating their work into a usable,
enforceable document addressing every type of building, in a manner
that is flexible enough to meet the needs of diverse jurisdictions."
The IGCC references ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1-2009 for
the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings, Except Low-Rise
Residential Buildings as an alternative compliance option. The code
addresses residential construction by referencing the ICC 700-2008
National Green Building Standard developed by the National Association
of Home Builders and the Code Council.
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