State and Local Efforts

The scopes of each of these efforts are, for the most part, limited to sustainable site, water efficiency, energy, and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor air quality provisions being added to a building that could be built to the minimum life safety provisions of the state or local building code or less.

PCA continues its efforts to incorporate functional resilience into the core criteria for sustainable buildings. Buildings that require frequent routine maintenance, have short life spans, or a susceptible to significant damage in the event of natural or other disasters are contrary t the concepts of sustainability and should not be used as the basis for codes and standards that are intended to encourage sustainable building design and construction. Functional resilience is crucial to the 1) design and construction of sustainable buildings, 2) having buildings that allow communities to be more sustainable, and 3) truly minimize the long term negative impacts of buildings on the environment.

The key aspects of functional resilience that should be considered for all green or sustainable buildings are described in Functional Resilience:  Prerequisites for Green Buildings.  Discussion of a tern for more resilient building s is provided with general technical information that will educate all users and interest parties on the need for and how to achieve enhanced functional resilience into their building designs without having to go through all the specific criteria presented as modifications to the International Building Code in the High Performance Building Requirements for Sustainability.       

  • Current National Efforts

    PCA is actively involved in the development and maintenance of several national efforts to standardize and codify design and construction requirements for sustainable green buildings. These activities include: 

    • National Green Building Standard jointly developed by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the International Code Council (ICC) and commonly referred to as ICC 700.
    • Standard for the Design of High Performance Green Buildings Except Low-rise Residential Buildings jointly developed by American Society of Heating and Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and commonly referred to as the IGCC.
    • Plus a variety of standards being developed by ASTM International (ASTM) Committee E60 on Sustainability commonly referred to as the ASTM E60


    Many of the provisions in these documents are based on or consistent with the criteria in voluntary programs such as:

    Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - New Construction developed by the US Green Building Council and commonly referred to as LEED and Green Building Initiative developed by Green Globe and commonly referred to as GBI.