There has been a lot of talk recently about the so-called “Green Code,” also known as ASHRAE Standard 189, what it means, where it will be adopted, and what impact it will have on the green building market. In short: It's here, but many of its earliest adopters are city/municipal governments, so its effects in the short term will be somewhat geographically contained.

The code is similar in many ways to typical ASHRAE codes in that it establishes maximum levels of energy consumption in building design to maintain a baseline level of efficiency. However, ASHRAE 189 is unique in that it is modeled off LEED. Like typical codes, it provides specific requirements for energy efficiency in buildings; however, Standard 189 also extends to other “green building” considerations such as materials selection. The resulting building might look and behave much like a LEED-certified building, but is not labeled as such.

Mandating green buildings, particularly in the public sector, has been a bit tricky at times. Some local governments, particularly at the city level, require LEED certification. This approach has drawn controversy over concerns that governmental agencies should not favor certification programs developed by one organization over another.

In response, some municipal and state governments have started using a more flexible approach requiring buildings to use “LEED or similar programs,” while others, such as the State of Washington, have gone so far as to develop their own unique certification programs for public buildings. The Green Code addresses these issues by rolling the main concepts of green building programs into a code that can be easily adopted by local governments and adapted to their individual regulatory schemes.

Don’t expect to see Standard 189 required at a national scale because it will more likely be adopted first at a municipal or state level for public buildings and grow into other building types over time. It has been discussed in a number of major jurisdictions including New York City, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, and Minneapolis.

States and local jurisdictions can already adopt the entire first version of Standard 189 or parts of it. In addition, Standard 189 was accepted as a compliance path with a similar code, the International Green Construction Code, in March. Over time, the two programs, which were originally viewed as competitors, are likely to merge more harmoniously into a single code. So you may start to see the Green Code in effect around the U.S. in the near future.