a:25:{s:9:"weblog_id";s:1:"4";s:8:"entry_id";s:0:"";s:6:"sticky";s:0:"";s:14:"allow_comments";s:1:"n";s:16:"allow_trackbacks";s:1:"n";s:10:"entry_date";s:19:"2009-02-01 10:13 PM";s:15:"expiration_date";s:0:"";s:23:"comment_expiration_date";s:0:"";s:8:"category";a:1:{i:0;s:1:"4";}s:9:"author_id";s:1:"2";s:6:"status";s:4:"open";s:14:"trackback_urls";s:0:"";s:18:"versioning_enabled";s:1:"y";s:5:"title";s:32:"Green Building Standard Approved";s:9:"url_title";s:32:"green_building_standard_approved";s:6:"submit";s:6:"Submit";s:11:"field_id_26";s:32:"Green Building Standard Approved";s:11:"field_ft_26";s:4:"none";s:11:"field_id_31";s:0:"";s:11:"field_id_44";s:444:"The National Green Building  Standard, known as ICC-700, was approved Jan. 29 as an  American National Standard. The new Standard provides guidance for safe and sustainable  building practices for residential construction, including both new and  renovated single-family to high-rise residential buildings. This is  the first and only green standard that is consistent and coordinated with the  Code Council’s family of I-Codes and standards.";s:11:"field_ft_44";s:4:"none";s:11:"field_id_28";s:32:"National Green Standard, ICC-700";s:11:"field_ft_28";s:4:"none";s:11:"field_id_29";s:6267:"<p>The National Green Building&nbsp; Standard, known as ICC-700, was approved Jan. 29 as an&nbsp; American National Standard. The new Standard provides guidance for safe and sustainable&nbsp; building practices for residential construction, including both new and&nbsp; renovated single-family to high-rise residential buildings. This is&nbsp; the first and only green standard that is consistent and coordinated with the&nbsp; Code Council&rsquo;s family of I-Codes and standards.</p>
<p>Code Council Board President Adolf Zubia said, &ldquo;this is an enormous step forward&nbsp; in bringing focus to green practices for the built environment. ICC-700&nbsp; provides a benchmark for green building in the residential market, serving as a&nbsp; new and needed starting point for comprehensive approaches to green residential&nbsp; construction. This is the result of many months of hard work by our members and&nbsp; our partners around the country.&rdquo; <br />&nbsp;Code Council CEO Richard P.&nbsp; Weiland said, &ldquo;the development of high performance &lsquo;greener&rsquo; housing can have a&nbsp; tangible and positive impact on our environment and communities. This new tool&nbsp; for state and local governments fills an important gap to provide a measurable&nbsp; framework for efforts to produce green and sustainable housing. In concert with&nbsp; energy codes such as the International&nbsp; Energy Conservation Code, and rating systems such as the LEED Green&nbsp; Building Rating System, Energy Star, the CHPS Criteria, Green Globes or similar&nbsp; programs, application of ICC-700 can contribute to greater energy, water and&nbsp; resource efficiency along with reduced long-term costs to consumers and to our&nbsp; planet.&rdquo;</p>
<p>The International Code Council&nbsp; and National Association of Home Builders developed the Standard with broad input from several&nbsp; thousand stakeholders, ranging from code officials and other building&nbsp; professionals to the entire spectrum of the green building community. This&nbsp; new standard provides a practical route to green, sustainable and high-performance&nbsp; construction, especially in communities with little if any green/sustainable&nbsp; buildings or guidelines to build green. The standard also promotes homeowner&nbsp; education for the maintenance and operation of green residential buildings in&nbsp; order to ensure long-term benefits.<br />&nbsp;The standard&rsquo;s rating system&nbsp; allows builders, designers and communities to choose the levels of high-performance&nbsp; green buildings that best suit their needs. Key provisions include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Land conservation</li>
<li>Rainwater collection</li>
<li>Construction of smaller homes to&nbsp; conserve resources</li>
</ul>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Energy performance starting at&nbsp; 15% above the baseline requirements of the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code<br />The use of low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) materials and detached garages or&nbsp; carports to improve indoor environmental quality<br />Homeowner education on proper maintenance&nbsp; and operation to maintain its green status throughout its life cycle <br />ICC-700 is available along with related ICC&nbsp; publications through the <a href=\"http://www.iccsafe.org/700 \">Code Council website</a> .</p>
<p>Training on ICC-700 already is available, including&nbsp; a special session March 23-26 at Codes Forum in New Orleans. Additional training is also&nbsp; available on related topics such as current green building practices and their&nbsp; relationship to the International Codes, overview of the LEED green building&nbsp; rating systems, and developing green building ordinances to help governmental&nbsp; departments and agencies tasked with establishing sustainable building&nbsp; programs. <br />&nbsp;</p>
<p>The Code Council is finalizing its Green Building&nbsp; Technologies Certification program for building officials, inspectors,&nbsp; planners, zoning personnel, mayors, city council members, developers and other&nbsp; interested parties. The exams will be available in March. These certifications&nbsp; will demonstrate the ability to understand the application of green building&nbsp; technology and assess adherence with green building programs. <br />&nbsp;In addition, the International Code Council Board&nbsp; has approved the creation of a Sustainable Building Technology Committee to&nbsp; support the Council&rsquo;s many ongoing efforts in green, sustainable and safe&nbsp; construction.</p>
<p>&nbsp;A Code Council subsidiary,&nbsp; ICC-Evaluation Service, has developed the Sustainable Attributes Verification and Evaluation&nbsp; (SAVE) program to provide independent confirmation that&nbsp; evaluated building products are sustainable and may qualify for points under&nbsp; ICC-700 as well as major green rating systems such as LEED or Green Globes. A SAVE evaluation involves both&nbsp; inspection of the manufacturer&rsquo;s production process and reviews of independent&nbsp; product testing, where required. Manufacturers that successfully complete the&nbsp; evaluation process receive a Verification of Attributes Report in one or more of nine key categories. Design professionals will be able to use the&nbsp; reports as evidence that products or systems they select qualify for points&nbsp; under those programs.</p>
<p>Another Code&nbsp; Council subsidiary, the International Accreditation Service (IAS), offers&nbsp; accreditation to testing laboratories, inspection agencies and product certifiers&nbsp; in several fields related to energy and sustainability to support manufacturers&nbsp; and regulators involved in green building development and approval. IAS also&nbsp; accredits curriculum developers and training agencies focused on green&nbsp; initiatives.</p>
<p>The International Code Council, a membership&nbsp; association dedicated to building safety and fire prevention, develops the&nbsp; codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings, including homes&nbsp; and schools. Most U.S.&nbsp; cities, counties and states choose the International Codes, building safety&nbsp; codes developed by the International Code Council.&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>";s:10:"category_0";s:1:"4";}