The International Code Council and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers Inc. have merged their efforts, rather than compete, to develop the nation’s first “green” model code for commercial buildings. The model code, released on March 15, is open for public comment through May 14 but now is available to jurisdictions. Version 2.0, based on public input, will be released by Nov. 3. The goal is to develop an adoptable and enforceable model code. “Bringing together the code expertise of ICC with the technical expertise of ASHRAE to create a comprehensive green building code will accelerate our

As the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act enters its eighth month on the books, the General Services Administration’s $5.5-billion ARRA-funded program to build or upgrade scores of federal buildings finally has taken off. As of July, it had awarded contracts totaling nearly $1.1 billion for projects involving about 120 buildings. At least 20 of those are already under way, according to Anthony Costa, of GSA’s Public Buildings Service department, who delivered the news during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing on July 31. He added that the rest of the projects “will begin soon,” and says the agency plans

What could become the nation’s first standard for high-performance buildings moved a step closer to adoption earlier this month with the release of a third draft for public comment. The latest version of Proposed Standard 189.1 has stricter energy conservation provisions and reflects input from a broader cross-section of experts, according to its developers. National laboratories currently are using energy modeling to determine how much more savings could be generated with the latest version of the standard compared to previous drafts. “I would anticipate [savings to go] up at least another 5 percent,” says Kent Peterson, chair of the development

The White House on February 26 unveiled a $3.55-trillion budget outline for fiscal year 2010 that would boost funding for water infrastructure and transportation programs while aiming to cut the federal deficit in half by 2013. White House officials say the outline provides a broad framework for fiscal policy over the next 10 years. A more detailed budget proposal will be released in April.  But the proposal is only the first step in a long legislative process. Months of hearings by appropriations and tax-writing committees will take place, followed by committee and floor votes. Final numbers for 2010 spending won’t