Next month, the International Code Council is expected to publish its first International Green Construction Code (IgCC), effective January 2013. A year in the making, the model code was approved last November after a week-long hearing whose discussion topics included whether 16 climate zones were diversified enough for the energy targets, whether the compliance verification mechanism was workable, and whether the code’s post-occupancy provisions exceeded the role of the code official.

Action Items

  1. One idea that didn’t make the cut was an optional Outcome-Based Compliance path that would allow builders to comply by providing data on a building’s energy use for 12 consecutive months during the first three years of occupancy. “We don’t know how existing buildings are performing,” notes David Hewitt, executive director of New Buildings Institute. But other proposals that passed lay the groundwork for adding the path to the IgCC version in 2015. These include:
  2. Requiring metering equipment to collect energy performance data; and
  3. Using a Zero Energy Performance Index, based on a building’s average energy performance at the turn of the millennium, to provide comparisons for subsequent codes and buildings.

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