The International Green Construction Code (IgCC) was recently approved. The International Code Council is expected to release the final published code in March 2012. 

This is an historic accomplishment. Yet while the code was approved, the proposal for an outcome-based compliance path that was supported by NBI and its partners was not included in the final IgCC. Although not approved, hearing testimony about the alternate path expressed support for the concept as a means to advance energy efficiency in buildings and suggested it has a place in future versions of the code. Plus, several other proposals supported by NBI and its partners were adopted in the final code that create a foundation for including the path in the next version of the IgCC in 2015. These are:

Metering Standards.

The new code includes innovative metering requirements that would put equipment in place to collect the data needed to report on energy performance and verify outcome-based compliance. In addition to more basic requirements for the installation of whole building meters, the code includes a two-layered approach to sub-metering. This approach maximizes the benefit of the data gathered while minimizing the effort required in design and construction. 

zEPI Scale for Energy Use Targets.

Every new code that has come out over the last 30 years has touted itself as a certain percent better than the previous code. However, as energy codes progress, this constantly moving baseline makes gauging progress in building energy efficiency very difficult, and creates smaller and smaller actual gains. NBI and its partners proposed using a Zero Energy Performance Index (zEPI) scale in the IgCC that was adopted in the final code. This energy scale is based on the average building energy performance at the turn of the millennium. By comparing all codes and all buildings to this common baseline, we can now compare different codes and buildings and have an energy improvement metric that is meaningful.  Adopting the zEPI sets the stage for including energy performance targets for buildings – an essential aspect of the outcome-based compliance path.

While now “official,” the IgCC has already been adopted in various forms in several cities and states across the U.S., which demonstrates the growing interest in green building.  A report released this week by the GreenBiz Group confirms this trend. The report found that in 2011, LEED-certified buildings made up more than 20 percent of all new construction, and the number of LEED-certified buildings increased by 2.6 percent over last year to 1.6 billion square feet. In fact, more than a third of all LEED-certified floor space in the history of the program was certified in 2011.