There’s been a lot of discussion lately about changes to LEED. Are new credentialing requirements too complicated and cumbersome? Are the efforts of the USGBC to focus on energy efficiency in the new version of LEED enough to ensure green buildings are truly green? Everyone seems to be waiting to see what changes recently introduced by the USGBC mean for the future of LEED. Let’s step aside from all of that for a moment and look an outside influence that may be more important.
A draft of the International Green Construction Code (IGCC) was released for public comment in March 2010 and scheduled for release in 2012. The new model code is the result of a collaboration of an impressive group of players: International Code Council (ICC), the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and ASTM International (ASTM), the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES). The potentially competing 2010 ASHRAE 189.1-2009 Standard for the Design of High Performance, Green Buildings has been incorporated into the new IGCC code. The code is written to work together with the International Building Code.
USGBC endorses the IGCC, seeing it as a complement, not a competitor, to LEED. LEED has started to be adopted by municipalities, but was never intended to function as a code, and is difficult to enforce as such. USGBC anticipates the introduction of a green building code will serve as a baseline standard, and will raise the bar for LEED’s voluntary standards to evolve to represent the highest leadership in green design.
USGBC’s strategic plan for 2009-2013 has listed advocacy for green building policies and codes as a major goal in advancing their larger vision of promoting “ buildings and communities will regenerate and sustain the health and vitality of all life within a generation.” At the same time, it states that “Government issued green building mandates have the potential to both strengthen USGBC’s position and to significantly undermine it.”
It will be interesting to see how the new code will affect LEED’s position in the industry and how green building movement evolves as it expands. Stay tuned.
Jeanne Carey, AIA, LEED AP, is an Associate at Shepley Bulfinch and a leader of the firm’s internal sustainability education initiative.
