The 2020 version of the ICC 700 National Green Building Standard (NGBS) is now available for free download and public use. You care about this because the NGBS is the most used green building standard in the United States. As of April 1, 2020, more than 216,000 residential dwellings have been certified to the NGBS … Continue Reading
In response to an act of the Maryland legislature in 2018, the state is proposing a watershed revamp of its current mandatory green building requirements for new public school buildings. The public is being invited to comment on the proposal. Existing State Finance and Procurement Section 4-809(f) was amended adding new section (6), providing in … Continue Reading
2018 will be a watershed year in the course of green building standards, codes and rating systems. There has been no other single calendar year that has seen the breadth of substantive change that is before us. In 2018 there will be new versions of LEED, ASHARE 189.1, IgCC, ICC 700, Green Globes and .. … Continue Reading
Green building will remain mandatory for new construction in Montgomery County, Maryland and effective December 1, 2017, the International Green Construction Code 2012 will be a permitted alternative. Montgomery County was among the first local jurisdictions in the country, in 2008, to adopt a mandatory green building law for private building, requiring most new construction … Continue Reading
Development of the 2018 version of the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) is now underway. The NGBS is a collaborative effort between the National Association of Home Builders and International Code Council, the NGBS also known as the ICC 700 provides “green” practices that can be incorporated into new homes, including high rise multifamily buildings, … Continue Reading
This law firm is increasingly called upon to give legal opinions that a green building is LEED certified, certifiable or otherwise 'really' a green building. ... We also receive requests to give opinions of counsel that a project is ICC 700 'certifiable' or ASHRAE 189.1 compliant or complies with Enterprise Green Communities criteria; commonly associated with qualifying for governmental incentives. Committing that a project will be LEED certifiable versus certified by GBCI increases certainty and lowers risk.… Continue Reading
For all intents and purposes federally assisted housing must now be green. And while such is generally viewed as positive and as advancing green building (.. the big winner may be LEED), some worry about the implications for affordable housing and others about the homogenization of American housing by federal government efforts to save the planet.… Continue Reading
Baltimore City adopted the International Green Construction Code ... effective April 1, 2015. And despite that the IgCC becomes mandatory on April Fools' Day, we are not playing a practical joke when we tell you that the effective date has "shifted."… Continue Reading
Fannie Mae's lower interest rates for green building may not be the "in" response to climate change dystopia, but green mortgage backed securities, getting a big boost by this initiative, will be a key source of financing for green building, that will save the planet.… Continue Reading
While many have focused on the funding to fight the Islamic State terrorist group or the 1 percent boost in military pay, the National Defense Authorization Act for 2015 makes a major change in green building across this nation when it authorizes use of the ICC 700 National Green Building Standard.… Continue Reading