Building industry provided with language that broadens and strengthens building codes in a way that will accelerate the construction of high-performance green buildings across the country.

The International Code Council, the American Society of  Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers, the U.S. Green Building Council and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America recently launched the International Green Construction Code, which represents the merger of two national efforts to develop adoptable and enforceable green building codes. The IGCC provides the building industry with language that broadens and strengthens building codes in a way that will accelerate the construction of high-performance green buildings across the United States.

The code establishes a regulatory framework for the construction of high-performance commercial buildings that are safe, sustainable and by-the-book.

An addition to the technical content of the IGCC is the inclusion of ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1, Standard for the Design of High Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, as an alternate path of compliance. Standard 189.1 is a set of technically rigorous requirements, which, like the IGCC, covers criteria including water-use efficiency, indoor environmental quality, energy efficiency, materials and resource use and the building’s impact on its site and its community.