Standard 189 Close to Complete

After a few bumps in the road, the committee behind Standard 189, a code-enforceable standard for green buildings, has released a third draft for public comment and hopes to have the standard finalized by January 2010. The newest draft makes it clear that what began as a minimum green building standard has turned into a high-performance one. It remains to be seen whether this higher level of performance will prevent Standard 189 from being widely adopted.

The standard has been in development since 2006 under the auspices of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the U.S. Green Building Council, and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America. In October 2008, without warning its partners, ASHRAE disbanded the Standard 189 committee, reconvening an expanded version several months later (see

EBN Mar. 2009).