For this week’s Guest Post Friday here at Construction Law Musings, we would like to welcome back Sean Lintow Sr. (@The_HTRC) of SLS Construction & Building Solutions. Sean has over 20 years in the construction and project management fields and is now solely specializing in helping other builders & trade professionals to improve their building methods plus providing code & “green” program verifications in the Illinois area. Currently he is RESNET Rater, AEE CEA (Certified Energy Auditor), ENERGY STAR partner & verifier, EPA Indoor airPLUS verifier, Level 2 Infrared Thermographer, Volunteer Energy Rater for Habitat for Humanity, Green Star Verifier, and DOE Challenge Home Partner & Verifier. You may also want to check out his great resources on the HTRC (Homeowners & Trades Resource Center).
First off, let me say thanks Chris for having me back. I can’t believe this is my fourth time & I got to say I am honored. As many may or may not know, I have been following or been actively engaged in the “green” movement since the early 80’s & wow, how things have changed. As I brought out in a recent presentation, what was once considered extreme & the realm of hippies “finding a new direction” has now become mainstream.
While many programs have sprung up from this, by far two of the biggest are LEED & ENERGY STAR. As we know they were conceived as a means for builders to build better buildings & they started off with simple roots. As the conversation started to grow & changes started coming about (mainly due to building codes) they had to adopt or be deemed irrelevant.
One of the most interesting statement I recall is one of the founders of LEED saying they looked forward to the day when they might be able to close the doors as the codes & builders simply built “green”. So this begs the question, with all the recent code changes & many more coming (like the 2015 codes requiring a HERS score of 51-55 for residential), where do many of the programs stand & are some of them about to become irrelevant? (Curious what a HERS Score is?)
