For this week’s Guest Post Friday here at Musings, we welcome Mike Collignon.  Mike is a co-founder of the Green Builder Coalition. The Green Builder® Coalition is working to improve the sustainable attributes of new and existing buildings through education, information and advocacy.

From November 2-6, code officials, building officials, industry stakeholders and other interested parties gathered in Phoenix for the final round of hearings on the International Green Construction Code (IgCC). Coming into the hearings, there were two big questions: Would this code pertain to low-rise residential structures, and what effect would GG34 have on the final draft? Once the dust settled, the industry is left with a code that is certainly a step in the right direction. However, its adoptability has to be questioned.

In the spirit of brevity, I won’t go into the 2.5 year saga of low-rise residential’s place within the IgCC. (You can read the unabridged story here.) Suffice to say it was in the original draft, and then it was removed by the ICC Board prior to public version 2.0. A group, including members of the Green Builder® Coalition, United States Green Building Council (USGBC), MC2 Mathis Consulting, the Southern Nevada Water Authority and 3 building officials from across the country, developed a comprehensive public comment to reinstate low-rise residential structures into the code. The comment, which can be downloaded in its entirety here, covered commonly accepted principals of sustainable construction (energy, water, site, materials, IAQ). Testifying in opposition to this comment were representatives from the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB), American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA), Buildings Owners & Managers Association (BOMA), Window & Door Manufacturers Association (WDMA), and 2 building officials. After hearing testimony, the voting members voted approximately 2-1 to disapprove the motion. Continue Reading