David Kurland's blog

With significant input and coordination with and from the USGBC, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) are conjunctively working upon creating a set of standards to insure the more efficient use of energy and setting a measurement standard of same.

Lighting, along with heating/cooling/air transfer comprises the majority of the on going energy consumption of any building. Titled Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, Standard 189P is being developed using USGBC’s LEED® Green Building Rating System. ™ It is hoped that this historic document will provide and serve as a guide to sustainable design and environmentally conscious and conscientious environmental construction. As presently contemplated, it will be applied to new commercial buildings and major renovation projects. It is hoped, as it has happened in the immediate past, the acceptance of applying Standard 189P will trickle down to smaller buildings and residences. It is sure to follow; and that the standard will eventually become a prerequisite for desirable and hopefully eventually needed LEED certification for occupancy.

All measures, including energy efficiency, measured controlled total energy consumed, greenhouse gas emissions, choice of beneficial, sustainable site selection, husbanded water usage, proper materials and resource choices and the proper application of same; and indoor environmental qualities that must be considered, rated and ranked and are set forth in the Standard. At last, there will be an indisputable written consensus of what is acceptable, though at the moment, only a compilation of criteria will serve as and be a guide for architects, developers, builders and governments to apply, goals to set and reach for all projects with less favoritism, or cronyism, in the securing of a Certificate of Occupancy for any given planned project.

It is indisputable that energy is the key to all environmental concerns from endangered species to world commerce and monetary reform. Such legislation is another tool of the democratization of the construction industry and a real step towards the education and enlightenment of the public.