Green building certified! Again!

New certification planned by safety group

Posted by Katharine Wroth at 8:12 AM on 07 Mar 2008

Read more about: green building | placemaking | urban planning

Maybe this all makes more sense to green builders than it does to me, but I see news today of plans to develop another new green-building certification, this one sponsored by the International Code Council. It seems like only ~~yesterday~~ three weeks ago that the National Association of Home Builders launched its own "education, verification, and certification" program, and of course our pal LEED keeps chugging along.

Oh wait, look what happens when you read the whole article:

The [ICC] certification will test an official's knowledge about the dominant green building rating systems, such as LEED, Green Globes and National Green Building Standard for residential construction. It also will help ensure officials understand the green attributes of International Codes, such as the International Energy Conservation Code and the International Plumbing Code.

So it's a certification system ... to help officials understand the other certification systems! Now that's clear as mud plaster.

For story: Green building certified! Again!
2 Comments | Post a Comment

certifiably redundant?

Classic!

Erik

The Orion Grassroots Network: supporting grassroots groups working for conservation, justice, & more

by Erik Hoffner at 11:12 AM on 07 Mar 2008

Redundant? Not at all.

I think you're missing the point rather badly here. This program is for building code enforcement officials, not for builders or architects. It makes perfect sense that code enforcement professionals should have an overview awareness of the range of green performance rating systems that the builders whom they are charged to monitor may be engaged with. Code officials have almost dictatorial powers on the construction site, and their attentions are directed to all buildings, not to those with any particular green or other parallel certification a builder might seek. A code official lacking a general awareness of the full range of green construction standards would be very well placed to subvert and undermine the best efforts of our best builders and designers to build to a high environmental standard. I sincerely hope that many in the code enforcement profession take advantage of this opportunity to enlarge their skills and contribute to the greening of our construction industry.

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

by spaceshaper at 6:10 PM on 07 Mar 2008

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