NAHB is seeking an amendment to the proposed International Green Construction Code (IGCC) that would allow local green building programs to continue to offer voluntary green home certification for new and remodeled homes.

The International Code Council will conduct a Public Comment Hearing in Chicago on Aug. 14-22 to review more than 1,500 comments on the first draft of the IGCC.

The ICC launched the development of the IGCC in June of 2009 in association with the American Institute of Architects, ASTM International and other industry groups. Public Version 1.0 was released for comments on March 15 after a series of meetings held by the council’s Sustainable Building Technology Committee.

NAHB submitted 51 comments on the first draft.

A key issue for NAHB is a reference to the National Green Building Standard (ICC 700). While the provisions of the IGCC are intended for all commercial and industrial buildings, the draft provisions also stipulate that the requirements of ICC 700 shall apply to all residential occupancies. 

The only exception is for high-rise (greater than 75 ft. in height) residential buildings, where the draft proposal provides an option to use either ICC 700 or the IGCC.

Additionally, the IGCC would require the minimum energy efficiency for residential occupancies to exceed the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) by 30% — the current “Silver Level” of ICC 700.

Since the IGCC is intended to be adopted by jurisdictions on a mandatory basis, NAHB is concerned that any jurisdiction adopting this new green building code would either have to automatically include residential buildings or seek an amendment. 

Such a mandate would undermine many of the highly successful existing local green building programs, as well as NAHB’s efforts to promote voluntary programs based on ICC 700.

Further, NAHB is opposed to mandates for residential construction because green building provisions are often too costly to be applied to all new housing and would greatly limit the ability of low-income and first-time buyers to purchase a new home.

NAHB is seeking to amend the current requirement by adding a simple box that the jurisdiction can check to specify whether residential occupancies and the reference to ICC 700 are applicable when adopting the IGCC.

This would allow adopting authorities to decide whether residential green building mandates are appropriate for their jurisdiction — without the need for code amendments, which are often difficult.

This is one of the many changes NAHB will be pursuing during the IGCC Public Comment Hearing and is only the first step in NAHB’s advocacy on issues related to the IGCC.

After incorporating the changes approved by the Public Comment Hearing Committee, ICC will release Public Version 2.0 on Nov. 3. This second public draft will then be subjected to a full code development cycle with two rounds of hearings in 2011. 

Not until after the ICC governmental members vote at the final hearings in November 2011 will the requirements of the IGCC be finalized. Publication of the 2012 IGCC is scheduled for March of 2012.

For more information, e-mail Calli Schmidt at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8312.

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For answers to questions about National Green Building Certification by the NAHB Research Center, certification to the standard or the guideline sunset, complete and submit the Contact Us form on the NAHBGreen website.