[GSBN] Big News!!

Wed Aug 18 23:09:54 UTC 2010

Denmark, Europe tipping its rainy summer-hat.
Respect to youse friends.
Lars Keller

On 19 August 2010 01:03, Bohdan Dorniak <bohdan at bdcoarchitects.com.au>wrote:

>  Congratulations David and Martin from all of us here in Australia
>
>
> Regards,
> Bohdan Dorniak
>
> Treasurer AUSBALE
>
> *Bohdan Dorniak & Co Pty Ltd*
> *Architects & Town Planners*
> 47 Prospect Road
> PROSPECT SA 5082
> P: (08) 8344 8170, F: (08) 8344 6480
>
>
>  ------------------------------
> *From:* GSBN-bounces at greenbuilder.com [mailto:
> GSBN-bounces at greenbuilder.com] *On Behalf Of *John Swearingen
> *Sent:* Thursday, 19 August 2010 5:18 AM
> *To:* (private, with public archives) Global Straw Building Network
> *Subject:* Re: [GSBN] Big News!!
>
> 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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