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Obama Administration Announces Efforts to Improve Community Resilience Through Building Codes and Standards

  • 05/11/16

Washington, D.C., — The Polyisocyanurate Insulation Manufacturers Association (PIMA) participated in the White House Conference on Resilient Building Codes to highlight the critical role of building codes and standards in furthering community resilience and preventing future impacts of climate change.

“Improved building code requirements over the past decade have been the single, unifying force in driving high-performing and more resilient building envelopes, especially in states that have taken the initiative to extend these requirements to existing buildings,” said PIMA President Jared Blum. “Studies have shown that the thermal performance of buildings during major energy disruptions can impact the life-safety of the occupants.”

The conference panels, made up of experts developing a national strategy to enhance the resilience of the built environment, agreed that resilience provides a building or community the ability to recover or bounce back from a natural weather event. The topics covered included:

  • Climate Change and the Implications for Buildings
  • Incorporating Resilience into the Built Environment
  • Resilient Buildings in the Federal Government
  • The Economic Benefits of Resilient Design
  • Implementing Resilient Building Codes
  • Incorporating Resilience into Building Codes and Standards

“We can all agree that the building stock and infrastructure in United States are old and woefully unprepared for climatic events which will occur in the years ahead,” clarified Blum. “Moving forward, engineering has to be more focused on risk management; historical weather patterns don’t matter because the past is no longer a reliable map for the future building code practitioners.”

According to a fact sheet issued by the White House on the conference:

“Building codes set the baseline for the safe design and construction of our homes, schools, and workplaces, providing the minimum requirements to adequately safeguard the health, safety and welfare of building occupants. The impacts of climate change – including hotter temperatures, more extreme weather, sea level rise, and more severe drought – pose significant challenges for buildings and homes, many of which were not built to withstand the future impacts of climate change.”

“I was pleased to hear from the civil engineers and the mayors at the White House event that energy efficiency needs to be incorporated into any strategy to create a more resilient building stock, and that reroofing with high thermal performance was a prime example given,” added Blum.

To learn more visit www.polyiso.org.

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