New Green Building Standard Could Help Encourage Low-E Glass in Residential Structures

The development of the 2008 National Green Building Standard (ICC-700) may help further promote the use of low-E glass. The standard is designed to provide guidance for safe and sustainable building practices for high-rise residential buildings as well as new and renovated single-family homes.

The standard's rating system allows architects/designers, builders and communities to choose the levels of high-performance green buildings that best suit their needs. For example, one key provision of the standard is to offer energy performance starting at 15 percent above the baseline requirements of the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC).

"Whether they use the performance option (whole home 15 percent above the 2006 IECC) or the prescriptive path, the standard will reward lower solar heat gain coefficients (SHGC) in the south, and lower U-value in the north," says industry consultant Thomas D. Culp, Ph.D. "Both will promote low-E in all regions, and possibly some triple glazing in the north. There are also credits for sun-tempered design, passive cooling design and passive solar heating design. These options reward builders for good practices such as optimally orienting the building and glazing, using higher SHGC in the south, using larger overhangs or other methods of shading, placing operable windows for cross ventilation and using thermal mass. These can give from three to 13 additional points in the energy efficiency category, on top of points related to the basic window and building energy performance."