Going Green vs. The Building Code
Wouldn't it be wonderful, maybe even logical, to have building codes incorporating "green" construction practices in an integrated manner with the experts in the field? Am I being too idealistic? Perhaps, but if we ever hope to really get with the green building program--I mean "get with it" like we see in such places as Switzerland, Sweden and Holland just to name three--and in view of $130+ per barrel oil I suggest we'd better get with it now. It's only going to become a reality when the provincial departments responsible for our building codes formally include industry leaders--those advancing green building technology--into the decision-making process.
In my thirty-something years in the construction industry I've had a few discussions with federal and provincial building code department heads and politicians, and unfortunately too many of them seem to have an us/them adversarial attitude. Some see themselves as the public defenders, the sole line of protection for an unsuspecting public who are at the mercy of the greedy contracting industry, an industry that will cut corners until the building is barely standing.
To be fair, of course there are business owners out there who deserve such an attitude. One bad apple can always spoil it for the good apples. That said, it is nevertheless true that the good apples do have something very substantial to offer bureaucrats when it comes to the practical application of new technologies and building code development. That very substantial something is called experience in the real world, dealing with the real complexities of market demand, real effectiveness in implementation of new building materials and methods, and the very real constraints of marketability.
There are a growing number of construction companies climbing onto the "build green" wagon in Canada, and to their credit all of them across this country have done so without the kind of generous government money to grease their wheels that their Swiss, Swedish and Dutch counterparts have enjoyed. But every now and then their forward progress runs into bulding codes that can seem like a hurdle rather than a help to the green momentum.
For example, on August 16, 2007 the 2008 Built Green™ Checklist was approved for release to become effective January 1, 2008. Since that time the Checklist was uploaded to the Built Green™ website and distributed to the green builder membership with the expectation that builders would begin to use it to grade their projects starting in 2008. Then, in September 2007, the new Alberta Building Code was released. It quickly came to the attention of the folks at Built Green™ that there were items included on their checklist that were now mandatory according to the Alberta Building Code or precluded all together.
Since the updated Code was so new, its content was still being "interpreted" by individual inspection departments around Alberta. This process of interpretation can take years and does not often result in complete consensus. Unfortunately there are often real differences in interpretation from one jurisdiction to another.
According to Built Green™, many member builders within the Alberta building community have decided to go forward anyway with the 2008 Checklist as is. Should a builder be prevented from accruing enough points to reach certain levels of the program due to building code restrictions, they will deal with the issues as they arise by bringing the project to the attention of the Built Green™ Standards Committee and solutions will be worked out on a case by case basis.
Had the leaders in green building technologies--and I mean industry leaders, not academia--been an integral and formal part of the Codes development, such coordination would have avoided the hurdle or at least reduced its potential for negative impact. In my opinion, to genuinely advance the cause of responsible implementation of green technologies we have to get beyond the adversarial mindset and increase dramatically this kind of formal participation by the troops on the ground.
