[GSBN] Big News!!

Fri Aug 20 17:03:50 UTC 2010

David and Marty, just want to add my congratulations to the chorus-- 
terrific news,

Dan
.......................................................
Dan Smith
Principal - DSA Architects
1107 Virginia St.
Berkeley, CA 94702
510.526.1935 x101
510.526.1961 fax
dan at dsaarch.com
www.dsaarch.com

On Aug 19, 2010, at 6:41 AM, Bruce King wrote:

Cowabunga, Desert Dave and Mighty Marty, you strike again--  
congratulations!  Keep on doing that funky thing you do!

Party on, baleheads!

Thanks,

Bruce King
www.ecobuildnetwork.org
(415) 987-7271

On Aug 16, 2010, at 10:13 PM, Strawnet at aol.com wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> I want share some great news. Earlier today, here in Chicago, Martin  
> Hammer's "comment"/proposal to include the strawbale code he’s been  
> working on over the past few years in California into the new  
> International Green Construction Code (IgCC) was approved by a  
> committee vote of 8 to 6! The IgCC is the new US code for commercial  
> (and high-rise residential) buildings that will become part of the  
> family of 2012 International Codes (I-codes). It will go through a  
> full code development cycIe with the rest of the 2012 I-codes next  
> year and there is work that will need to be done still to make sure  
> it doesn’t get rejected in that process, but getting it into the  
> second public draft of the code now is a very big step forward.
>
> I served on the drafting committee for this code from last summer  
> through the spring of this year. For more information about the IgCC  
> and to download the whole IgCC first public draft and the comments –  
> including Martin’s proposals for strawbale and earthen building and  
> the EcoNest comment in support of straw clay go here:
> http://www.iccsafe.org/cs/IGCC/Pages/default.aspx
> http://www.iccsafe.org/CS/IGCC/Pages/Comments0810.aspx
> You’ll find these listed as comments 5-134, 5-135 and 5-136.
>
> I was the only proponent speaking in favor of it here, and there  
> were others who spoke in opposition. The initial motion was to  
> disapprove but it failed 5 votes to 9 after considerable and very  
> mixed discussion – which surprised me because of the nature of some  
> of the comments – that it was still not ready and needed some  
> technical fixes.
>
> The failure of the motion to disapprove required a new motion and  
> Chris Mathis, an old building science friend from North Carolina,  
> offered a motion for approval. That was followed by more discussion,  
> with more concerns expressed that it wasn't ready. Then, just before  
> the second vote, Chris pressed the committee to push the envelope.  
> He said they should approve it and get it in, and rather than just  
> having the few people who are very knowledgeable about it work on  
> improving the things that still need to be done, “Let thousands of  
> people look at it and help improve it through the next round of the  
> code development process!” He said it was time to start pushing  
> these things through. Then they voted - and it passed 8 to 6! I was  
> amazed and delighted! So it is going into the second public draft!
>
> There were two other similar proposals (they’re called “comments”)  
> that were heard right before the strawbale comment. The first, from  
> Paula Baker Laport and Robert Laport proposed including the straw  
> clay guidelines from New Mexico. Next was the other submitted by  
> Martin, that one in support of earthen construction based on the new  
> ASTM standard for earthen wall systems that I had initiated almost  
> 10 years ago and Bruce King has spearheaded over the past few years.  
> I spoke in support of both, but they were disapproved, though both  
> received encouraging suggestions to bring them forward again after  
> addressing non-mandatory/permissive language and other issues.
>
> Because they were heard one after the other, and I was the only  
> proponent for them, I got to speak first for each one and so I had a  
> total of 6 minutes (2 minutes each) to frame them all in terms of  
> the big issues I’ve been speaking to for all these years, including  
> the coming challenges of ever-more limited and expensive energy, the  
> low-impact, low-tech, climate beneficial, local/regional benefits,  
> the industrial/proprietary bias and difficulty in funding research,  
> testing and development for public domain, non-proprietary materials  
> and systems. I started off by talking about the fact that I had been  
> in buildings in Europe built with materials like straw clay and  
> earth that are twice as old as this country! And to say that these  
> are durable and safe ways of building when done properly. And when  
> talking about the ASTM earthen standard, I said that if they looked  
> at it they might think that it was too low tech to be reasonable  
> compared to the standards that they’re used to for concrete and  
> other industrial materials. But, I said, It was intentionally low  
> tech. That I was involved in initiating that standard almost ten  
> years ago and it was both to enable the use of those materials here  
> and to reverse the outlawing of earthen building in developing  
> countries through the adoption of modern industrial codes. That it  
> was designed to enable people to build safe, durable, healthy, and  
> affordable buildings anywhere in the world—including the in United  
> States. I mentioned that the committee that developed that standard  
> included the leading experts on earthen building and engineering  
> from around the world and was based on reviewing and incorporating  
> the best from international codes and standards for earthen building.
>
> After the first two went down, I was quite convinced because of the  
> comments that the sb proposal would share the same fate and,  
> thankfully, I was wrong!
>
> So hats off to Martin, Bruce, Matts, and many others who have worked  
> so long and hard to develop these codes and to Chris Mathis for his  
> leadership and visionary action on the committee.
>
> Onward!
>
> David Eisenberg
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