Greening buildings in Nashville and legal concerns along the way

The construction industry in Tennessee — and anywhere in the world — is one of the usual suspects when it comes to identifying environmental bad guys. Indeed, according to the World Green Building Council, the construction industry alone accounts for 39% of the world’s carbon emissions.

Carbon emissions are just one metric. There are many other concerns. There’s waste production, hazardous waste materials management, energy consumption, water usage efficiency, how materials and resources are sourced, and the kinds of transportation that are relied upon.

At every turn, within every construction project, opportunity awaits for sustainable practices and choices to be adopted. Many have been adopted. Progress, in fact, is being made all the time.

Many construction firms say they’ve reduced their energy consumption levels, and nearly half of executives report significant strides towards sustainability in the design and planning phases of their work. At the same time, a lack of visibility into their own processes or their suppliers’ processes limits the realization of many sustainability goals on the execution side.

Compliance with local regulations

As climate progress is top-of-mind around the world and cities everywhere charge forward with green building, keeping apace with the law is an ongoing challenge for the construction industry.

In Nashville, the International Energy Conservation Code and the International Green Construction Code have been incorporated into the local building codes. These provide minimum standards and regulations for energy efficiency and sustainable construction practices, with the intent to minimize negative impacts and maximize positive effects for all structures that are built.

According to the Livable Nashville Plan, leaders of the community share a vision of Nashville leading the Southeast, becoming the greenest city therein. Within that plan, green buildings are one of the  top priorities. And with that in mind, staying on top of building code changes is sure to be an ongoing concern for construction industry companies.

 

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