Conch Republic Goes Green! Key West now requires 3rd party green building certification

According to Stuart Kaplow of Green Building Law Update, the City Commission of Key West, Florida now requires third party green building certification for all new residential projects. Acceptable standards: USGBC LEED for Home Certified Florida Green Building Coalition Bronze level certification In Key West, residential development is strictly limited to correspond to the evacuation … Continue reading Conch Republic Goes Green! Key West now requires 3rd party green building certification →

2013 California Building Code Adopted, Goes Into Effect January 1, 2014

Update: The Title 24 component to the 2013 California Building Standards Code will not be going into effect until July 1, 2014. See this important update for more information. The 2013 California Building Standards Code has been adopted by the state's Building Standards Commission (BSC) and will go into effect on January 1, 2014. The … Continue reading 2013 California Building Code Adopted, Goes Into Effect January 1, 2014 →

Commonly-Used, Code-Approved Structural Detail Proven Susceptible To Premature Failure

ENR's Nadine Post reported recently on research findings that may carry broad implications. Representatives from American Concrete Institute (ACI) and Gustavo Parra-Montesinos, a researcher at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, state that a popular str...

Green Building Certification Standards: Passivhaus

The Passivhaus standard includes the following requirements: A building must have a maximum annual heating energy use of 15 kWh per square meter (or 4,755 Btu per square foot) as well as an equivalent cooling load (1.39 kWh per square foot, since you'r...

San Diego: Fire Sprinklers Still Not Installed At City Hall

The city of San Diego is poised Monday to give itself another three years for the 15-story City Hall to comply with a 1986 municipal ordinance requiring fire sprinklers in high rise buildings.The law has a built-in exemption for government buildings, b...