[GSBN] Big News!!

Wed Aug 18 19:47:54 UTC 2010

Awesomely Great News!!!!   Thanks to everyone for all your spirited work!

John

On Mon, 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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>

-- 
John Swearingen
Skillful Means Design & Construction
2550 9th Street   Suite 209A
Berkeley, CA   94710
510.849.1800 phone
510.849.1900 fax

Web Site:  http://www.skillful-means.com
Blog:         https://skillfulmeansdesign.wordpress.com
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