ATLANTA — As the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) move forward in developing the nation’s first standard for high-performance, green commercial buildings, membership on the committee developing the standard is being reconstituted.

Proposed Standard 189.1, Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, will provide minimum requirements for the design of high-performance new commercial buildings and major renovation projects, addressing energy efficiency, a building’s impact on the atmosphere, sustainable sites, water use efficiency, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. To better address the varied areas covered in the proposed standard, a new committee is being appointed. A call for members is open through Dec. 4.

“The market will benefit from the lead taken by ASHRAE and its cosponsors in developing this most challenging standard, which addresses ever-evolving technology,” said ASHRAE Presidential Member Kent Peterson, who has been named as chair of the Standard 189.1P committee. “As we have proceeded down this path, we recognized that the proposed standard would benefit from additional expertise and more involvement from interested parties. We are committed to developing this green building standard with accurate and appropriate technical content through a rigorous, transparent, and fair standards development process.”

ASHRAE said the proposed standard has generated much public interest, with more than 900 comments received during each of the two public reviews. While the standard has undergone two public reviews, it is anticipated that the standard will undergo a new full public review in the near future as technical guidance and input is offered by new committee members.

Those interested in serving on the committee can find more information at www.ashrae.org/publicreviews.

Publication date: 11/24/2008