Liberty Building Forensics Group: Green Building Codes Present Potential Risks
Liberty Building Forensics Group has published a post on its blog here about potential downsides to coming green building codes such as ASHRAE 189.1, Standard for the Design of High Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.
Titled, “What Happens When Green Becomes Code: Do Buildings Get Better or Do Lawyers Get Richer?”, warms of the following possible risks:
* Lack of experience will increase design and construction deficiencies
* Standard of care will be elevated, increasing project risks
* Regional issues may not be not addressed
The bottom line, the blog post author argues, is that setting a higher standard does not guarantee it will be implemented correctly, while making it harder to tell the people who implement the standard correctly from those who don’t.
It’s an interesting argument. What do you think?
This is an interesting article, however, it seems to be like chicken little crying that the sky is falling.
It has always been the building design professional’s (i.e. architects, engineers, lighting designers, etc.) responsibility to keep up with the latest technology and to understand the application of these products. This is inherent in the requirements of the different professional organizations to gain learning units for each year so the professionals may maintain their standing in the respective professions.
I think we may rest assured that the architects and engineers will keep up with the changes mandated by the code improvments.
As far as the climate and regional issues are concerned, as these codes are implemented, the different code writing authorities should have the ability to modify specifics while maintaining the spirit of the law and recognize the required adaptations.