The Green Brick Wall

Hi StyroHome! I'd be interested in hearing about green building in Canada vs the US. I am confident it is getting easier here, but it's still a bit confusing. That's where I hope Rate It Green can help, so we can compare notes and share advice across this industry and across geographies. We do have governments at all levels implementing a patchwork of green building regulations and codes, but it would of course be better to have one consistent and aggressive set of policies. In my town, we have a "stretch" building code that helped us move forward, but now that time passed, it lags behind our state's standard code due to the pace of our political system. We need to cut some red tape and avoid those kinds of situations. I thought we had a resource for viewing all green building codes nationally, but I just failed to find it. I did find the EPA's reference to the International Green Building Code, updated in 2012 with the support of many national and international organizations: http://www3.epa.gov/region09/greenbuilding/codes/standards.html But yes, I wish our government would just support green building policies and codes unequivocally. It's been a slower pace depending on the market and nonprofits. I do think manufacturers and service professionals have been responding to the need to save resources and energy and to build buildings that are healthier for occupants and the environment. We have quite a few nonprofits and research organizations paving the way to green building progress, and I also believe that our certifying and labeling organizations have helped make a tremendous difference. The USGBC has had a profound impact on buildings worldwide (over 13.8 billion sf in the US alone), for example, and I have been really excited about recent efforts for healthy buildings and ensuring environmentally safe products through transparency. I wish there were clearer and readily available #s, because things seem to get murky between US #s and global totals and residential and commercial construction. I do feel a part of a very exciting movement - we just need to move faster and we ned to all see a transition to a sustainable economy as a great opportunity for jobs and our connective health, and the environment. In 2008 and 2010 I did some work to try and list all the information resources on greenbuilding I could find. You can find the resource we created in a free version here: http://www.rateitgreen.com/green-building-resources/sustainable-building-resource-guide if I get the funds to expand this at some point, I will continue the work and make it a companion database to our directory. And of course, we're working to create the largest directory and network we can, to help make all building green building. So, thanks for being here.