The former head of the U.S. Green Building Council says the Biden Administration’s formation of the National Building Performance Standards Coalition is a “tremendous” step in the right direction to raise building performance standards in the U.S.
This action, along with an effort to boost sustainability on federal properties, has the “potential to merge federal leadership and fiscal resources with lower governments’ capacities for experimentation and execution,” writes Mahesh Ramanujam, former USGBC CEO. The coalition could achieve much while circumventing gridlock on Capitol Hill, he says.
The coalition, a partnership between the White House and 33 state and local governments, aims to deliver cleaner, healthier, and more affordable buildings by advancing building performance policies in each of the members’ jurisdictions by Earth Day 2024.
The coalition recognizes that there is no “one-size-fits-all” standard when it comes to standards and codes for buildings. Differences in climates and environments, energy resource distributions, material supply chains, legacy building stock compositions, community preferences, market dynamics, and other variables add complexity.
Taking these variables into account could make code development more effective locally, but on the other hand, Ramanujam adds, the lack of a true national building performance standard may limit its impact.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
'Flexible' building designed to physically respond to the environment
The ecoFLEX project, designed by a team from Shepley Bulfinch, has won a prestigious 2009 Unbuilt Architecture Design Award from the Boston Society of Architects. EcoFLEX features heat-sensitive assemblies composed of a series of bi-material strips. The assemblies’ form modulate with the temperature to create varying levels of shading and wind shielding, flexing when heated to block sunlight and contracting when cooled to allow breezes to pass through the screen.
| Aug 11, 2010
Payette completes Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute
Payette, a leading architectural design firm specializing in complex buildings for medical and scientific research, academic teaching, and healthcare, announced today the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony was held on June 26, 2009. The new 176,000 square foot Cancer Institute is located on the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center Campus in University Park, Pa.
| Aug 11, 2010
New book provides energy efficiency guidance for hotels
Recommendations on achieving 30% energy savings over minimum code requirements are contained in the newly published Advanced Energy Design Guide for Highway Lodging. The energy savings guidance for design of new hotels provides a first step toward achieving a net-zero-energy building.
| Aug 11, 2010
Pella Corporation ranks highest in customer satisfaction
Pella Corporation has earned the prestigious J.D. Power and Associates award for “Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Window and Patio Door Manufacturers” for the third year in a row.
| Aug 11, 2010
Oregon office building earns highest green globes rating
Columbia Square, a 313,000 square foot office building and flagship property in the Melvin Mark Companies real estate portfolio, has been awarded 4 Globes by the Green Building Initiative (GBI) for achievements in green design and sustainable operations. The building was rated under the Green Globes environmental design and assessment tool and the 4 Globes designation is the highest possible rating.
| Aug 11, 2010
Perkins+Will master plans Vedanta University teaching hospital in India
Working together with the Anil Agarwal Foundation, Perkins+Will developed the master plan for the Medical Precinct of a new teaching hospital in a remote section of Puri, Orissa, India. The hospital is part of an ambitious plan to develop this rural area into a global center of education and healthcare that would be on par with Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford.
| Aug 11, 2010
Burt Hill, HOK top BD+C's ranking of the nation's 100 largest university design firms
A ranking of the Top 100 University Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants
