News and Publications

Uncertain Future for ASHRAE Standard 189
Note: This article, first published on October 17, 2008, was updated on October 29.

What was supposed to be a new minimum, code-enforceable standard for green buildings now faces an uncertain future. In a move that came as a surprise to its partners, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has disbanded the committee that has been developing “Proposed Standard 189: Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.”

Together with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES), ASHRAE has been working since 2006 on the standard. Based on the USGBC’s LEED Rating System, Standard 189-P is designed to be incorporated into building codes, unlike LEED, which is a voluntary system. The first draft available for public comment was released early in 2007, and the committee has been making regular progress (see EBN Vol. 16, No. 6).

That was until October 14, 2008, when William Harrison, president of ASHRAE, informed the members of the committee, which is known formally as SPC 189.1P, that they were in the process of being “cleared.” Harrison invited those individuals to reapply for membership in a reconstituted committee. In the letter to the committee, which was obtained by EBN, Harrison also noted the resignation days earlier of committee chair John Hogan, AIA, P.E., of the Seattle Department of Planning and Development.

Brendan Owens, vice president for LEED Technical Development at USGBC, told EBN that it was “very surprised at this action taken by ASHRAE,” adding that USGBC is trying to learn more about ASHRAE’s reasons. “We want to make sure that this is the best path forward,” Owens said. Acknowledging the uncertainty about Standard 189, Owens noted that a minimum green building standard that can be incorporated into codes is “so fundamental to everything USGBC is about, we are very committed to making sure it happens.”

Several committee members discussed the move with EBN, all of them speaking off the record, either because they were unauthorized to speak by the organizations they work for, or did not want to jeopardize their chances to rejoin the committee. Discussing resistance from various industry groups, including steel, gas and utilities, wood, and building owner interests, one committee member said, “We must have been doing a good job.” While those trade associations had specific complaints in some cases, in others they were unsupportive of ASHRAE’s involvement, as a mechanical engineering association, in a broad green building standard.

According to Jeff Littleton, executive vice president for ASHRAE, it is important, in terms of American National Standards Institute (ANSI) process rules, that “we have all materially affected parties at the table.” One anonymous source echoed this perspective, staying that ASHRAE expected that the standard would be appealed on procedural grounds, a process that could potentially hold it up for years. By reconstituting the committee now with additional committee members, ASHRAE may hope to move more efficiently toward completion. EBN also learned that ASHRAE did seek to simply expand the committee prior to taking this more drastic action, but Hogan and others on the committee resisted that expansion, with the stated concern that having a larger committee would slow the process.

– Tristan Korthals Altes & Nadav Malin 
this article is courtesy of buildinggreen.com

This web site is currently under expansion.
We apologize for any problems or inconvenience.