Building Codes Assistance Project

Join over 700 of energy efficiency's most notable leaders, representing 40+ countries, at the Energy Efficiency Global Forum & Exposition (EE Global), being held May 10-12, 2010 at the Washington DC Convention Center. With over 80% of 2009 participants self-identifying as executives or managers, EE Global 2010 will provide access to decision makers and offer executive-level insight and dialogue. Focusing solely on energy efficiency from the perspective of all energy end-use sectors (buildings, industrial and transportation) and with coverage of all cross-cutting issues (finance, policy, technology, and market transformation), EE Global serves as an exchange of best practices and policies for global implementation of energy efficiency. Visit www.eeglobalforum.org for detailed information about this exciting event!

In July, the Virginia Board of Housing and Community Development voted in favor of adopting a recommendation to update the Uniform Statewide Building Code (USBC) to reference the 2009 IECC (it currently references the 2006 IECC). A comment period on the proposed USBC will be open from September 28, 2009 to January 25, 2010.

On February 11, 2008, Virginia's Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved green requirements for all new and renovated county buildings.  County buildings over 10,000 square feet will be required to reach Silver-level certification from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. County-constructed single family homes, town houses and low-rise multi-family buildings must achieve certification under the Energy Star Homes rating system.

Effective May 1, 2008, the Virginia Board of Housing and Community Development has updated the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (USBC) per its three year code change cycle to coincide with the 2006 editions of the International Code Council model codes.