# Presentation: 768908

## Voluntary Beyond Codes2001 National Workshop on State Building Energy  Codes

- Voluntary Beyond Codes2001 National Workshop on State Building Energy  Codes

**  ****Development Center for Appropriate Technology**
**www.dcat.net**

## Presentation Overview

**Challenge: Lack of a sustainable context for building codes resulting in resistance to adoption and enforcement of building energy codes and greater resistance to alternative designs, materials, and methods**
**Limitations for building departments**
**Potential for green building programs to provide support for building departments**
**Vision of potential solutions**

## Building Sustainability into the Codes

**A three phase program:**
**Awareness building - the need for change**
**Capacity building - enabling the change**
**Transfer of responsibility - shifting the work to those that have a natural and legitimate responsibility to carry it out**

## Misalignment

- 	**Building codes community often resists energy codes and alternatives due to a *****perceived***** lack of alignment with the purpose of codes.**

## Example of Misalignment: Energy Codes

_**Perception**_**:**
**	****Energy codes have nothing to do with life safety and therefore are merely a complex, time-consuming, expensive source of continuing aggravation.**

## Potential Solution:

**Define a context for viewing energy codes and alternatives as part of the central responsibility for protecting public safety, health, and welfare.**

## The Basic Premise

**IF building codes and regulations are designed protect public from the built environment**

**BUT INSTEAD they inadvertently jeopardize the health, safety, and welfare of everyone by encouraging the destruction of the natural systems on which we depend for our survival**

**THEN we are *****obligated***** to reinvent our regulatory systems**

***It cannot be more important to protect individuals in and around specific buildings than all of us collectively on this planet.***

## Sphere of concern: those things which must be attended to in order to protect people from the built environment. 

_**Sphere of consequence**_**: all the outcomes resulting from the actions taken in accordance with the sphere of concern. **

_**Sphere of responsibility**_**: we are responsible for what happens as a result of what we require people to do. **

***Expand spheres of awareness and concern to encompass as much as possible of the larger spheres of consequence and responsibility.***

**A New Context for Codes**

## The Work

**Provide a context that aligns purpose of codes with sustainability issues through:**
** ****Education about the larger, negative impacts of buildings and building practices as well as about alternative approaches that minimize these impacts**
** ****Training to enable change**
** ****Development of partnerships, e.g. green building programs, ICBO, USGBC, etc.**

## Brief Overview of Green Building Programs

## Green Building Programs:Organizational Frameworks

** ****Non-profits**
** ****Municipal**
** ****State**
** ****Home Builders Association**
** ****Utilities (energy guarantees)**

## Green Building Program Components

**Education**
**Training**
**Consulting**
**Certification**
**Checklist**
**Multi- or single-level**

## Green Building Program Target Areas

**Energy **
**Site design**
**Materials**
**Water**
**Solid Waste**
**Community**
**Health**

## Benefits of Green Building Programs

**Market-based incentive**
**Meets demand**
**Creates demand**
**Additional marketing strategy**
**Provide standards above minimum requirements of codes**
**Defines and educates what makes a “green” building**

## Common Realities forBuilding Departments

## Limitations

**Workloads and ordinary problems for conventional construction are typically demanding enough**
**Limited or no time to be pro-active in addressing these challenges**
**Added complexity usually just amplifies the problem**

**Continued...**

## Limitations, continued

**Inadequate  information and training to be able to deal with alternatives in a positive way**
**Limited funding and staff for training**
**Limited positive feedback, support, or cooperation from the design and building sectors**

## Sources of resistance

**Risk: not only physical risk as from unsafe structures, but risk of future problems, risk of liability to jurisdiction, etc.**
**Dealing with the unfamiliar or unknown increases both real and perceived risk**
**Little incentive for building officials to take added risks**
**Effort and resources are necessary to overcome these limitations**

## Alignment Through Relationship Between Green Building Programs and Building Departments

## A Potential Solution:Services Provided by GBP

**Staff support within the building department for green projects**
**Streamlined checklists and guidance for plan review and inspection for alternatives**
**Information resources and training for both code officials and proponents of alternatives to facilitate the approval and inspection processes**
**Green plan review**

## Relationship of GBPs and Building Departments

**Green **
**Building **
**Program**

**Building **
**Department**

**Define limitations (staff, time, training)**

**Provide context for energy codes/alternatives**

**Provide services to overcome limitations**

## Imagine

- High-quality private plan review services for green buildings and high-performance designs
- Expedited plan review for green projects as an incentive for builders to participate in green building programs
- A building department member of the design team in integrated design projects, whereby all code compliance issues could be resolved and a permit issued as the final plans are submitted to the building department

## Imagine

- Building departments becoming real resource centers for communities rather than the “building police”
- Building codes and building departments shifting their role from making sure that the wrong things don’t happen to ensuring that the right things do - there is a big difference!

## Thank You!

- Please remember to fill out our building codes survey at www.dcat.net