International Green Construction Code augments agency measures to codify green-building practice

The 2012 International Green Construction Code (IgCC) increases the energy-efficiency of structures, while providing governments direction and oversight of green design and construction, according to the International Code Council (ICC), document author and one of several U.S. Green Building Council partners in the effort. Developers of the LEED green building certification system and coauthors of ANSI/ASHRAE/ IES/USGBC Standard 189.1, USGBC applauds the new model code that serves as an important new policy option for state and local governments looking to codify green building practice.

“The IgCC and Standard 189.1 draw from more than a decade of national and regional leadership programs that road-tested green building practices, methods and materials,” says USGBC Vice President of LEED Technical Development Brendan Owens. “These pioneering efforts broke important new ground that has enabled the IgCC to mainstream green building practices that were previously considered innovative in a foundation intended for minimum code language.”

The 2012 IgCC, which incorporates the 2011 version of Standard 189.1 as an optional path to compliance, offers a new code baseline that can be tailored by state and local governments to share many of the benefits of green buildings with the millions of buildings that are designed, constructed and renovated to meet minimum code, whether or not they are engaged in the LEED program.

“As the International Green Construction Code begins to inform building codes and building practice across the country, LEED is evolving to reward greater thresholds of green building leadership,” notes USGBC Senior Vice President of Global Policy & Law Roger Platt. “We need public policy that rewards this beyond-code leadership alongside codes that redefine what we should expect of our buildings. The IgCC and Standard 189.1 are an important and intentional complement to LEED.”