# ICC 700 Green Building Code



## jpranch (Jan 7, 2010)

Here is a small sample from draft #4 just to wet your appetite. I especially like the requirements of item #3!

402.3.4.1 Vegetation and soil protection.   During construction on a building site, where portions of a site are not being disturbed; where existing vegetation is being retained and where portions of a site are restricted from development by Section 402.2, vegetation and soil protection zones (VSPZ) shall be established complying with the following:

1.	The VSPZ shall be designed such that construction impacts from overall site development shall not decrease the capacity of the VSPZ to support the desired vegetation. Construction activities outside of the VSPZ shall not change drainage patterns or affect the microclimate within the VSPZ.

2.	VSPZ shall be protected with a fence or other physical barrier that cannot be easily that protects the VSPZ during construction from the movement or parking of equipment, the storage of materials, and other similar construction activities. Where appropriate to the area, fencing which is wildlife permeable shall be provided.

3.	VSPZ can encompass one plant or can include several plants in a group. VSPZ boundaries for trees shall extend out from the trunk, to a distance of 2 feet radius, measured at ground level, per inch of diameter at breast height or the full lateral extent of the actual root system as determined by ground-penetrating radar. VSPZ boundaries for shrubs shall extend out from the stem of the shrub to twice the radius of the shrub. VSPZ boundaries for herbaceous vegetation shall extend to encompass the diameter of the plants.4.	No more than 10 percent of the total area of the VSPZ can contain development. Only minimal impact site development is allowed within the VSPZ.

5.	On-going management activities to protect the integrity of the VSPZ shall be included in the site maintenance plans.


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## JBI (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

:?:  :?:  :?:  :!:  :!:  :!:  :?  :?  :?  :roll:  :roll:  :roll:

Can't write what I really think....  :evil:


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## jpranch (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

John, Send via pm.  :lol:  I just finished reading all 185 pages of the proposed document. *I'm absolutly stunned.*


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## jpranch (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

Here is another little goodie to ponder???  :?:  :?:  :?:

603.1.1.2 Calculated annual output emissions associated with on-site electricity use. Annual indirect emissions from site electricity use shall be produced by multiplying the calculated site electricity use regulated by this code by a transmission and distribution line loss factor of 1.07 using the appropriate eGRID sub-region “total” output emission rate from the most recent edition of EPA eGRID (http://www.epa.gov/egrid). Citations to eGRID output emission rates shall include the eGRID (e.g., eGRID2007), version number and date of the cited table. This calculation shall be performed for the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) and these emissions values shall be combined into a carbon dioxide equivalent using the global warming potentials from the IPCC second assessment report (SAR), which are 1 for CO2, 21 for CH4, and 320 for N2O.

603.1.1.3 Calculated annual output emissions associated with on-site nonrenewable fuels use. On-site conversions of nonrenewable fuels shall use emissions factors in EPA’s mandatory reporting rule for greenhouse gases (http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissi ... aking.html), or, if no appropriate factor exists in the mandatory reporting rule, in EPA’s compilation of air pollutant emissions factors (AP42) (http://www.epa.gov/ttnchie1/ap42/).


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## Coug Dad (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

OMG!

How would a building department ever gear up to review and enforce this!  For example, potable water may only be used for the first 1 to three years to establish grass, plants and trees.  Are BO's going to diary all new buildings to confirm the potable irrigation is disconnected at the required time.

Section 904.1 MANDATES inspections by the design professional of record.  We can't require that even for life safety aspects of the code.

5 percent HOV parking and 5 percent hybrid parking?????

What a scary attack on buildings and individual freedoms.


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## jpranch (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

This thread has started out a little slow. So I sent out copies of the draft to about 8 or 10 people. If your intrested in a copy please send me a private email. I feel the need to get the word out on this!


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## mn joe (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

jp

Is the draft 185 pages?! I don't want all of that, is there a summary that I can access? My eyes will roll back and I'll never recover if I read 185 pages of that gobbledygook.

By the way,are you the guy that posted on the old ICC board about going out on your horses to wind down? Just wanted you to know that I'll be harnessing the team to the bobsled and making the most of our "winter wonderland" tomorrow.

Minnesota Joe


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## jpranch (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

Joe, Sorry. All I have is the full draft and to my knowledge this has not been released to the public yet. email me if you would like a copy.

And yes I'm the same guy from the old board. This weekend I have to do some ground work on a paint horse. Really had my hands full loading him in the trailer last week! Could have been quite a wreck.  :lol:

I have never run horses with sleds but have always wanted to. Enjoy the ride!


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## Coug Dad (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

The draft is available on the ICC site.


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## jpranch (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

Coug Dad, Do you have the link handy. Their website is a wreck. Thanks, jp


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## Coug Dad (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

http://www.iccsafe.org/cs/SBTC/Pages/FirstDraftDevelopment.aspx

Hope this works

cd


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## jpranch (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

Thanks! Have a great weekend everybody.


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## ewenme (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but it's not a draft any more. The ANSI/NAHB/ICC 700-2008 is now a published standard; a copyrighted work owned by the NAHB. January 2009 was the first printing.


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## jpranch (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

This should be very interesting to see who or what jurisdictions adopt?

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This post does not reflect the views or official position of this jurisdiction. No animals were slaughtered while making this post. We just had lunch. Side effects from the reading of this post include but are not limited to:  coughing, gagging, hearing loss, warts, eye fatigue, shingles, numbness in extremities, loss of appetite, flat tires, leaking rain gutters, divorce, job loss, hurricanes, earth quakes and tornados.


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## vegas paul (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

Keep in mind, it's a Standard, not a Code... big difference.  Standards are generally only enforceable when an adopted CODE points to them for the method of compliance.  As an analogy, Ch. 11 of the IBC is the code, which requires accessibility.  ANSI A117.1 tells you how to meet that requirement, however ANSI A117.1 by itself is not enforceable unless an adopted code requires accessibility!


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## jpranch (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

Paul, This came right off the document:    "INTERNATIONAL green CONSTRUCTION CODE® (IgCC®) ?


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## vegas paul (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

jp - ok, I was referring to the ANSI standard, I didn't know about the code... that is interesting!


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## jpranch (Jan 8, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

vegas paul, you bet this should be interesting in light of todays white house live up-date. I do not want to bring poiltics into this but it is very hard not to. Wish I had the business sense to cash in on this but alass...... My dad taught me how to work hard but never taught me how to make money.  :lol:  :cry:


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## conarb (Jan 9, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

Wow, what is the NAHB thinking?  My understanding was that they were trying to had off the USGBC's LEED ratings to provide a simpler alternative.





			
				2008 Green Building Standard said:
			
		

> In 2007 the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the International Code Council (ICC) partnered to form to establish a much-needed and nationally-recognizable standard definition of what is meant by "Green Building."A consensus committee was formed to develop this standard in compliance with the requirements of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The resulting ANSI approved ICC-700-2008 National Green Building Standard defines green building for single and multifamily homes, residential remodeling projects and site development projects while still allowing for the flexibility required for regionally-appropriate best green practices.
> 
> Similar to the NAHB Model Green Homebuilding Guidelines, a builder, remodeler or developer must incorporate a minimum number of features in the following areas: energy, water, and resource efficiency, lot and site development, indoor environmental quality, and home owner education. The more points accrued, the higher the score.
> 
> The Standard, however, includes more mandatory items and suggests that higher thresholds be met in several categories. A new threshold - "Emerald" - was added to denote the highest achievement in residential green construction. The following tables highlight the point values required in each area for green buildings and subdivisions.¹









¹ http://www.nahbgreen.org/Guidelines/ansistandard.aspx


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## jpranch (Jan 11, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

Maybe there is no better way to kill a code than to own it?


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## conarb (Jan 11, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

JP:

I built a home in 1978, the 1997 UBC became effective in 1998 that would have required a steel frame in the 2 story home with large glass areas. In the early 2000s he came to me for a 200 square foot addition to the master bedroom, I told him about $200,000 becasue of all the steel framing required to meet the current code, he said do it but hire the architect with the best record getting approvals in the City of Lafayette.  After three years or architectural work, landscape architectural work, meetings with neighborhood groups, fire marshals, design review commission, and planning commission, we obtained an approval that included landscaping a hillside to the city's landscape architect's recommendations. The price had now grown to $500,000 for the 200 square foot addition, he said okay he'd pay it.  At the last minute the planning commission demanded a bond in the amount of $1 million dollars to guarantee that if he didn't properly maintain and irrigate the hillside they could come in and do it, water the landscaping etc., and charge him, if he didn't pay the city could collect from his bond.  He balked at the bond and the project never went ahead. He is a well-known constrution defects attorney and after reading this stuff I sent him this E-mail:





			
				E-mail said:
			
		

> California's Green Building Standards are optional for communities to adopt now, they will be incorporated into the 2010 CBC which will probably take effect 1/1/2011. In communities with a green ordinance (which well be everybody by statute next year), a secondary gray water system must be installed to water the landscaping with gray water.  In the California ordinance it says this in §604.4:604.4 Graywater irrigation system. Install a graywater collection system for onsite subsurface irrigation using graywater collected from bathtubs, showers, bathroom wash basins and laundry water. See Appendix G, 2007 California PlumbingCode.
> 
> 604.5 Rainwater or stormwater collection systems. Either as a site design feature (vegetated swales, etc.), or as a constructed system (rain cistern, etc.), rain cisterns and other constructed water collection devices may store water for landscape irrigation.
> 
> ...


And this code is to, among other things, save water?


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## conarb (Mar 18, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

The ICC sent me Version 1.0 of the ICC Green Code with a box to check if I wanted to comment.  Just for fun contractors are going to have to test for VOCs California style, see pages 151-154, here is an example for insulation:





			
				ICC Green Code said:
			
		

> 806.6 Insulation. A minimum of 85 percent of insulation shall comply with the requirements of Table 806.6. The test methodology used to determine compliance shall be from CA/DHS/EHLB/R-174 Standard Practice for the Testing of Volatile Organic Emissions from Various Sources Using Small-Scale Environmental Chambers dated July 15, 2004 including Addendum 2004-1. The emissions testing shall be performed by a laboratory that has the CA/DHS/EHLB/R-174 test methodology in the scope of its ISO 17025 Accreditation.


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## jpranch (Mar 19, 2010)

Re: ICC 700 Green Building Code

Nikita Khrushchev was right.


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