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green construction code

ASHRAE 189.1 – 2014 Green Building Standard Is Now Available

Last week the 2014 version of the ASHRAE 189.1 Green Building Standard was published and became available for use.

ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1-2014, Standard for the Design of High-Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, addresses site sustainability; water-use efficiency; energy efficiency; indoor environmental quality; and the building’s impact on the atmosphere, materials and resources.

Standard 189.1 is an alternative compliance option of the International Green Construction Code. When Baltimore City adopted the IgCC last week, its enactment expressly described that buildings designed in compliance with Standard 189.1 were exempt from compliance with the IgCC. Given the timing of the enactment, Baltimore adopted the December 2011 version of 189.1.

The 2014 standard incorporates 67 addenda, reflecting changes made through the public review process since the standard was last published in 2011. Appendix H gives brief descriptions and approval dates of the addenda included in this new edition.

According to ASHRAE, major changes in the 2014 edition include:

Energy: Significant updates are included to reflect the publication of Standard 90.1-2013, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, including revised building envelope provisions. Fenestration orientation requirements were updated based on new research, as well as changes and updates made to equipment efficiency tables, ENERGYSTAR references and continuous air-barrier requirements.
Energy Performance, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Renewables: Changes and clarifications are included to reflect changes to Standard 90.1. Carbon dioxide emission factors for different energy sources are updated.
- Indoor Environmental Quality: Lighting quality is added to the scope of this section, and requirements are added for lighting controls in specific space types. Requirements for air sealing of filtration and air-cleaning equipment are clarified, and new requirements for preoccupancy ventilation and building envelope moisture management are added.
- Site Sustainability: All site requirements are now mandatory, with prescriptive and performance options moved to the mandatory requirements. Requirements for stormwater management are enhanced, and new requirements added for bicycle parking and for preferred parking for low-emission, hybrid and electric vehicles. New requirements are added for predesign assessment of native and invasive plants.
- Water: More stringent water use requirements are included for toilets, clothes washers, dishwashers and green roofs.
- Building Impacts on the Atmosphere, Materials, and Resources: Requirements are updated for areas to store and collect recyclables, including batteries and electronics. Requirements also are updated for construction waste management and for life-cycle assessment. New requirements are added for multiple-attribute product declaration or certification and for maximum mercury content levels of certain types of electric lamps.
- Construction and Plans for Operation: Requirements related to environmental impacts associated with idling construction vehicles are updated. New requirements are added to reduce the entry of airborne contaminants associated with construction areas.
To appreciate the importance of a republished ASHRAE 189.1, note that the Department of Defense, the largest owner of buildings in North America, that is also the owner or more green building and more LEED certified building than anyone else, based its Unified Facilities Criteria 1-200-02 High Performance And Sustainable Building Requirement on 2009 version of the Standard.

This may also be the last time the ASHRAE publishes 189.1 as an independent standard. In August the International Code Council, ASHRAE, the American Institute of Architects, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, and the U.S. Green Building Council announced the signing of a memorandum to collaborate on the development of future versions of Standard 189.1.

To order Standard visit www.ashrae.org/bookstore.

11/25/2014 0 comment

Green Building

Baltimore May Adopt the IgCC Green Building Standard

written by Stuart Kaplow

Last week, an ordinance was introduced in the Baltimore City Council for the purpose of adopting the International Green Construction Code.

The IgCC will be adopted as an overlay in conjunction with existing building, fire and related codes and will apply when a permit is required, except the new green code will not apply to: 1 or 2 family dwellings, multiple family dwellings that contain no more than 5 units, a structure that is LEED Silver certified or higher, or a structure that is ASHRAE 189.1 compliant.

It is necessary to appreciate that Baltimore City was an early adopter when it enacted a green building law in 2007 that, prior to this legislation, remains among the most sweeping of that in any major American city. Today the building code mandates that all newly constructed, extensively modified non-residential, and specific multi-family residential buildings, that have or will have at least 10,000 square feet of gross floor area, must be LEED Silver certified or comply with the Baltimore City Green Building Standard.

So, while it was controversial in 2007 when Baltimore mandating that privately owned building must be constructed green, Bill No. 14-0413 sponsored by Councilman James B. Kraft is being warmly received as providing more and better options for developers. That is under the bill a developer may pursue LEED Silver certification, compliance with ASHRAE 189.1 or build to the IgCC. That menu of options allays the concerns of many who will now be able to determine which green building standard is most efficacious for their project.

But make no mistake, Baltimore is not greenwashing. A change in the existing code is necessitated by the USGBC’s June 1, 2015 effective for LEED v4, when projects will no longer be able to register under LEED 2009, because the Baltimore City Green Building Standard piggybacks on LEED 2009 metrics and forms. A change had to be made. Also driving the bill is an unsettled question in the existing code of the definition of what is extensively modified and subject to the green mandate. In the already built out City of Baltimore many projects have not been required to build green that will now fall within the scope of this new IgCC mandate.

The Maryland legislature enacted enabling legislation permitting local governments to adopt the IgCC in 2011 and Baltimore will be the first to do so. Although as this bill is introduced, Montgomery County, Maryland is preparing legislation to repeal its existing LEED centric mandate replacing it with the IgCC. And the State is drafting regulations to allow use of the IgCC on State capital projects, including schools, where the law had previously required LEED Silver certification.

The first reader version of the bill repeals the current Green Building Standard replacing it with more than 25 pages of modifications to the form 2012 IgCC, and will be available later this week. Significantly for an ordinance that does not grandfather any projects, it contains an uncodified provision where the building code official may grant waivers from the new law for 180 days from its effective date in instances of good cause. Waivers may be key for projects that have been designed, but not yet permitted.

The ordinance boldly describes its purpose to “reduce the negative impacts and increase the positive impacts of the built environment on the natural environment and building occupants.” Mandatory green building has been and remains the law in Baltimore City. This bill makes the flavor of green more palatable.

06/23/2014 1 comment

Green Building

Maryland Sidesteps LEED in Favor of the IgCC

written by Stuart Kaplow

House Bill 207, approved unanimously in both the Maryland House and Senate and expected to be signed by Governor Martin O’Malley this Thursday, May 15, 2014 broadens the definition of a “high performance building” to include any building that complies with a nationally recognized and accepted green building code, guideline, or standard that is reviewed and recommended by the Maryland Green Building Council and approved by the Secretaries of Budget and Management and General Services.

At first blush that language sounds innocuous, however the bill portends fewer, if any, Maryland state and local government projects will be LEED certified in the future, in favor of projects built to the International Green Construction Code.

By way of background, existing law has required since 2008 that most new or renovated government buildings and new school buildings be constructed as high performance buildings. High performance building is defined as one that “meets or exceeds the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) criteria for a silver rating,” a definition that has existed in state law since 2001.

That law has both resulted in significant government LEED building and been a driver for private sector LEED construction. In point of fact, only weeks ago USGBC announced that Maryland ranked #2 in the Top 10 States in the Nation for LEED Green Building.

But as I wrote in a blog post in November in anticipation of this legislation, IgCC About To Get A Boost In Maryland, the USGBC is falling out of favor in this very green state, including with school construction interests and others seeking state capital budget funding that are concerned LEED v4 strayed too far from high performance building. Those ‘post LEED’ forces combined to drive HB 207. And such is instructive, because those favoring this sidestepping of LEED were not lumber interests or “plastics” industry interests that have been involved in anti-LEED legislation in other states. In Maryland with a mature environmental industrial complex, buttressed by some 114 green building laws and codes, this Department of General Services bill was supported by local pro green building players.

The state will adopt a version of the 2012 IgCC for its specific use for government building before the new law goes into effect on October 1, 2014.

While not expressly authorized by the bill, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (“CHIPS”) rating system which is gaining momentum around the country, will all but certainly be tested in Maryland in future school construction.

It is also expected that this year Baltimore City and Montgomery County, Maryland will each adopt a local IgCC enactment as a voluntary alternative to existing mandatory LEED centric green building laws that impact all private construction.

Maryland was one of the first states to incentivize green building in 2001 with a tax credit tied to LEED. Today, Maryland is joining Washington DC and Virginia leading a nationwide trend sidestepping exclusively LEED centric green building laws. All of this should be good for green building, good for Maryland, and very good for the planet.

Article by Stuart Kaplow, appearing courtesy Green Building Law Update.

05/13/2014 0 comment

Green Building

The 2015 IgCC Takes a Major Step Forward

written by Stuart Kaplow

We alerted readers of this blog in a post some days ago, All the Cool Green Building People will be in Memphis Next Week. And some thought we oversold the story. But when Britain’s Prince William and Prince Harry arrived in Memphis last week for the wedding of Elizabeth “Lizzy” Wilson and Guy Pelly, we felt vindicated.

And while the paparazzi did not take our picture after we ate at Rendezvous, last Thursday night the restaurant was full of code folks having completed a day of Committee Action Hearings on the 2015 International Green Construction Code.

More than 900 changes to the 2012 IgCC were proposed grouped and ordered in a big code effort into just over 500 “proposed changes” publicly discussed and voted on over 7 days of hearings. Changes ranged from clarifying confusing text to updating provisions to reflect the new and best science.

Much of the chatter among the hundreds of participants in the hearings was about “super habitable” buildings and questioning the efficacy of the proposed emphasis on materials, including EPDs, as being not supported by science and as straying too far from green building and any articulable benefit to building occupants.

With hundreds in the room, many representing industry interests, the ICC update of the Green Code is a voluntary consensus based process with openness, balance of interests, due process, an appeal process, and consensus. It is not perfect and at this hearing the concrete industries united to oppose the asphalt pavement industry’s attempt to allow asphalt pavement to be used under the IgCC. The existing code all but bans asphalt pavement in favor of concrete products (i.e., the 2012 IgCC mandates heat island mitigation for not less than 50% of site hardscape with material as having a solar reflectance value of not less than 0.30, including not even allowing the use of permeable asphalt); making the IgCC an outlier as the only green standard, rating system or code to effectively ban the use of asphalt pavement.

With the hearings now concluded the Report of the Committee Action Hearings (to accept, reject or accept with modifications each IgCC change proposal) will be posted online on June 6, 2014. A public comment period will be conducted until July 16, 2014, where any member of the public may provide written comments. And this is where the new IgCC gets real.

Public Comment Hearings will be held in Ft. Lauderdale between October 1 and 7, 2014. Voting on the final action on the public comments will be done by governmental ICC members both at the hearing and for a two week period afterward with the online cdpACCESS.

The resultant document, the 2015 IgCC will be released for use in the calendar year 2015 offering a more robust and greener Green Construction Code that will be a real alternative to LEED and Green Globes, with broader and wider adoption across the country.

The IgCC is moving forward. On June 6, with the posting online of the then current version, the public will have more than a month to comment. Don’t be left behind. Review the proposal and comment.

Article by Stuart Kaplow, appearing courtesy Green Building Law Update.

05/09/2014 0 comment

Green Building

All the Cool Green Building People will be in Memphis This Week

written by Stuart Kaplow

The process of updating the 2012 International Green Construction Code moves to Memphis this week.

The IgCC provides model code language, to be adopted by local governments as an overlay to existing codes to establish “baseline regulations for new and existing buildings related to energy conservation, water efficiency, building owner responsibilities, site impacts, building waste, and materials” and other matters.

It is surprising to some that adoption of the IgCC across the country has not been faster and broader. It may be that mandatory green building codes are controversial and fly in the face on the tenets of green building as voluntary stewardship of the Earth; which would explain the large market share that LEED has, as a voluntary third party green building rating system. But a better explanation may be that the IgCC needs to find its place among standards, rating systems and codes; which is a balancing act between the hard left environmental extremists and the conservative engineering based code officials? And that is what is going to happen in Memphis.

The ICC’s new cloud based code development system “cdpACCESS” will be used for the first time for offsite comments to the 2015 IgCC, but the action will be on the ground in Memphis.

Proposed IgCC changes submitted have been posted online since March 10th for public review. The changes will be heard at two Committee Action Hearings conducted April 27th through May 4th in Memphis. The hearings will also be webcast live.

There are more than 900 changes proposed ranging from clarifying confusing text to updating requirements to reflect the best science evolved since 2012. By way of example, one positive change is GC 159-14, being advanced by the National Asphalt Pavement Association, to revise IgCC section 408.2.4. Pervious and Permeable Pavement, to now refer only to permeable pavements defined as having an air void of at least 15% versus the current measure of a percolation rate of 2 gallons per minute per square foot. Recent research describes how permeable pavements can not only manage stormwater but also mitigate urban heat island effect due to the high air void nature.

NAPA is also proposing GC 156-14 to delete IgCC section 408.2.1 describing site hardscape material as having a solar reflectance value of not less than 0.30. This is significant because the IgCC mandates heat island mitigation for not less than 50% of site hardscape, including that the hardscape materials meet that requirement. Given the growing body of evidence of unintended consequences associated with reflective pavements and the potential negative impact they may have on energy usage, it is time ICC members accept the code may have gotten ahead of the science and be prepared to eliminate provision.

The results of the hearing (to accept, reject or accept with modifications) each IgCC change proposal, will be posted online. A public comment period will then be conducted until July 16, 2014, where any member of the public may provide written comments.

The resulting document, the 2015 IgCC will be released for use in the calendar year 2015 and will offer a more robust and greener Green Construction Code.

Article by Stuart Kaplow, appearing courtesy Green Building Law Update.

04/28/2014 1 comment

Green Building

IGCC Variant Green Building Standard for Public Buildings in Virginia

written by Walter Wang

The Commonwealth of Virginia requires that new construction and renovation of state government buildings be green. And now Virginia has become the latest government to mandate an alternative compliance path for green building that includes the International Green Construction Code.

Green building is not new in Virginia. In fact the first

01/07/2014 0 comment

Energy Efficiency Green Building

Green Building is Now the Law in Dallas

written by Walter Wang

Dallas has now accepted the first building permit applications under its green building ordinance. Dallas is one of the first major cities in the nation to implement comprehensive mandatory green building standards for both all new residential and commercial construction.

10/22/2013 2 comments

Energy Efficiency Green Building

Green Building Code Proposed in Washington DC is a National Model

written by Walter Wang

The final vote of the District of Columbia’s Construction Codes Coordinating Board on the Green Construction Code (and all of the new construction codes) occurred recent and are being transmitted to the Mayor’s office. The Mayor will submit the codes to the DC Council for adoption.

10/01/2013 0 comment

Green Building

The Green Building Code is Too Confusing

written by Walter Wang

I have spent just over a year thinking about the International Green Construction Code (IgCC). I know it has been one year because I received my first copy of the code at Greenbuild 2010. My conclusion today about the code is no different than it was one year ago:

10/21/2011 0 comment

Energy Efficiency Green Building

IGCC Series: Star Gazing in a World of Light Pollution

written by Walter Wang

The International Green Construction Code (IGCC) is a model code for cities seeking to promote sustainable building practices through their building codes. The IGCC promotes transition from the current voluntary green construction certifications, like USGBC’s LEED, to mandatory green

09/14/2011 0 comment

Green Building

Are Green Building Codes The Only Answer?

written by Shari Shapiro

There has been significant discussion over the past few months over the need for green building codes to achieve major green building goals. The International Green Construction Code Version 2.0 was published in November 2010, and CalGreen, California’s mandatory green construction code went into effect in January 2011.

A developer friend asked me what I thought

02/15/2011 4 comments

Energy Efficiency Green Building

GreenBuild 2010 – The Highlights

written by Shari Shapiro

Last week I attended GreenBuild in Chicago, and spoke on a panel with my fellow green law bloggers about the future of green building law and policy. We are planning a joint follow-up post on our predictions with Lloyd Alter at Treehugger which will come out in the next few days. But there were many other highlights of the conference:

11/23/2010 0 comment