International Green Construction Code

In the same year that ASHRAE Standard 189.1 was published, International Code Council (ICC) began developing the International Green Construction Code (IGCC) to create a comprehensive national model building code that would address green building design and performance for the construction, alteration, or addition to commercial and high-rise residential buildings, which would be consistent with ICC's family of building codes and standards, known collectively as the I-Codes. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and ASTM International, in addition to the organizations behind Standard 189.1—USGBC, IES, and ASHRAE—are cooperating sponsors of this model code.

According to Mark Wills, AIA's manager of codes advocacy, CALGreen served as the base document for the initial draft of IGCC.As it currently stands, IGCC consists primarily of a baseline of mandatory requirements across all the usual sustainable categories—from site development and land use to building operation, maintenance, and owner education. In addition, however, the model code offers a table of jurisdictional requirements, which are other measures that individual jurisdictions can choose to enforce as they pertain to their specific regions. Furthermore, the code asks individual jurisdictions to identify a number (from one to 14) of project electives that must be complied with on each building. Electives can vary from project to project, as they are selected by the owner and design team from a second table containing a list of over 50 electives.

Standard 189.1 is offered as a "Jurisdictional Compliance Option" within IGCC. "They are two different approaches to get to the same goal: a far-improved and greener baseline for commercial buildings," says Sigmon, who indicates that the ASHRAE standard has more thoroughly defined methods that typically appeal to engineers, while IGCC provides a "plain English" approach that speaks the language of policy makers and code officials.

IGCC's Public Version 1.0 was released in March 2010 and Public Version 2.0 in November 2010. While the code is still in development (final publication of the fully vetted code is not expected until March 2012), several jurisdictions have already adopted a reference to one of these public versions in part, as an "optional code," or as an alternative compliance path for certain buildings.

In a recent post to his USGBC blog, however, Sigmon applauds the approach of one state in particular in supporting the still-evolving IGCC: Through House Bill 972, which was signed into law by Governor Martin O'Malley on May 10, 2011, Maryland enabled and encouraged the state's Department of Housing and Community Development and all local jurisdictions to "consider mandatory adoption of the fully vetted 2012 version of the IGCC."

Stay Tuned

Clearly, the consensus within the green building community is that the time has come for building codes to establish a minimum regulatory floor for all aspects of sustainability. "We are beyond just doing lots of pilot programs. Everyone should buy VOC-free carpet and Energy Star appliances at this point," says Unger. "LEED is about encouraging the leading edge, which will continue to move forward as innovative practices become standard. Meanwhile, codification of standard practices will bring up the laggards."

But how sustainable practices are codified is still a matter of debate and experimentation. Some are concerned that the mixing of base and optional levels blurs the distinction between mandatory codes and voluntary ratings. Others weigh the pros and cons of inserting all green criteria within a single, identifiable volume of the code, as was done in California, versus embedding it in the pertinent locations across the entire document, as New York City is attempting. Yet others are wondering how enforcement will be carried out, in part due to budget crises facing states like California and in part due to the fact that building inspectors have traditionally been trained to examine structural and fire-safety issues, not environmental criteria.

Yet despite these and other questions, many are optimistic. "This is a wonderful time of fervent creativity," says Unger. He, like most everyone else in the sustainability movement, is keeping an eager eye on the various green-code efforts to see which strategies hold the most promise.

Nancy B. Solomon, AIA, editor of Architecture: Celebrating the Past, Designing the Future, writes frequently about architecture, planning, and sustainable design.