The High-Performance Building Congressional Caucus Coalition (HPBCCC), established by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), will highlight the importance of high-performance buildings to federal, state, and local policymakers and the general public during High-Performance Building Week May 23-29.
"We have a growing stock of high-performance buildings that provide a healthy environment and use less energy, water, and other resources than conventional buildings,” ASHRAE President Lynn G. Bellenger, PE, said. “Highlighting these achievements will promote integrated design practices and accelerate the transformation of our design and construction approach from minimum code compliance to high-performance buildings.”
Events will begin Tuesday, May 24, with a Congressional press event, followed by a luncheon, “Introduction to High-Performance Buildings: How Buildings Keep Americans Safe, Grow the Economy and Protect the Environment,” at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. Speakers for the luncheon will include Bellenger and representatives from the Institute for Market Transformation, the International Code Council, the National Institute of Building Sciences, and the U.S. General Services Administration. They will discuss how high-performance buildings impact jobs, the economy, the environment, safety, and security, as well as what “high-performance building” means in practice.
Additional activities in Washington, D.C., will include a Congressional budget briefing featuring perspectives from the House Tea Party Caucus and the Congressional Progressive Caucus and site visits, such as a tour of American University’s energy-efficiency retrofits, on Wednesday, May 25, and a discussion of LEED certification at the National Building Museum and a tour of the green roof at the American Society of Landscape Architects' headquarters on Thursday, May 26.
At the state and local level, members of the building community are encouraged to celebrate the week through public outreach and contact with public officials. Members of HPBCCC participating organizations are asked to contact their member of Congress by phone and e-mail and encourage him or her to join the High-Performance Buildings Congressional Caucus.