Greening of America's Building Codes: Promises and Paradoxes

Severe weather, climate change, and human-made environmental disasters have had an increasingly direct impact on our homes. This deeply researched introduction to the history of sustainable design standards in building codes explores how public policy, standard-setting trade associations, and financial incentives influence the ways in which the construction of our homes impacts the environment.The Greening of America's Building Codes investigates the legally binding regulations and economic incentives meant to control the environmental impact of contemporary construction practices as it analyzes the history of residential building codes. This book exposes how the socioeconomic and political forces that influenced early building code development continue to define the character of current building codes and, by extension, determine how we regulate environmental impact and define sustainability today.The Greening of America's Building Codes is a valuable tool for architects, architecture students, builders, real estate developers, and homeowners who want to understand how public policy and their own day-to-day decisions impact the environment.
A deeply researched introduction to sustainability in the context of residential building codes, financial incentives, design, construction, planning, and public policy. An extraordinary timeline outlines the history and evolution of building codes and environmental legislation.As severe weather events and other environmental conditions have an increasingly direct impact on our homes, a greater understanding of the codes and regulations meant to protect us is essential. Ecology of the American House investigates the history of building codes and regulations as it analyzes the legally binding regulations responsible for the environmental impact of contemporary construction practices.Architecture and sustainable design professor Aleksandra Jaeschke traces the coevolution of US residential building codes and environmental regulations to expose how the socioeconomic forces that influenced early code development continue to define the character of current building codes and by extension determine how we regulate environmental impact and define sustainability today.