Codes Corner: New digital strategies for building safety will be key to future sustainability
The industry is facing greater pressure to ensure plumbing and mechanical systems are sustainable and efficient
For more than a year, the pandemic has escalated the need for the building safety industry to quickly evolve and incorporate a digital-first strategy. In tandem, tradespeople are also facing a greater pressure to ensure society’s plumbing and mechanical systems are sustainable and efficient. After all, between an aging water infrastructure, an increasing amount of stress on society’s limited freshwater supply and the call from the general populace to reduce society’s greenhouse gases (GHGs), the need to create more sustainable water and energy performance in buildings is nearing a critical level.
The current U.S. administration has outlined impressive greenhouse gas reduction goals based in part on increased building efficiency standards across the country. As more of the industry digitizes, the effort to achieve these goals would benefit from greater consensus on our shared strategy, especially as it relates to water and energy efficiency within buildings, as state and local governments have the ultimate say on building regulations, and many of the methods to achieve the administration’s goals are relatively new.