Helping to Create a More Sustainable Texas

By Ravi Shah, International Code Council board member and Director of Urban Development, City of Carrollton

The building industry is evolving and that means traditional building methods are giving way to more sustainable options. At the same time, the North Central Texas corridor is growing at a rate that hasn’t been seen in a century. The expanding DART light rail system continues to spur new mixed-use and high-density development. All of this growth translates into demand for more sustainable living and work environments.

In response to this demand, the International Construction Code (ICC) and its industry sponsors have recently unveiled the Public Version 1.0 of the International Green Construction Code (IGCC) to help municipalities and governments around the globe create more sustainable environments for their regions – and that includes Texas.

The ICC developed this document with the support of Cooperating Sponsors, the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and ASTM International, and the code has been recently augmented by ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1 (which, in a nutshell, provides the standard for designing, building, and operating green buildings). The IGCC was created with the expectation that communities across our nation could use it as a resource tool in updating existing codes or drafting new codes to reduce energy usage, as well as minimizing the carbon footprint of thousands of commercial building projects.

As the chairperson of the IGCC’s drafting committee, I believe it was important to stay focused on our goal of creating a building code that is usable, adoptable, and ultimately enforceable. We considered what I like to call “different shades of green,” which means that the code could be adapted for the unique needs and priorities of adopting communities. The adoption of the IGCC in North Texas would fulfill the long term goal of helping to make our region more sustainable.

Here is what is in the IGCC: site development and land use, including preservation of natural and material resources; indoor air quality and energy-efficient appliances; renewable energy systems; water resource conservation; rainwater collection and distribution systems; and, the recovery of used water (gray water). The IGCC emphasizes building performance, including system performance verification and owner education to ensure the best energy-efficient practices.

The IGCC has created a single code that can be applied globally and its flexibility eliminates the need for “homegrown codes.” It will not replace existing codes, but will act as a complementary offering to the codes that currently exist. As communities across our region grow, I hope that the IGCC is adopted and adapted to meet the needs of North Central Texas – we could all enjoy a more sustainable future because of it.

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