In response to the growing shift toward sustainable building design and construction, the Development Center for Appropriate Technology, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, has created a program called "Building Sustainability into the Codes."  This program addresses the need to create a more sustainable context for building regulation to facilitate the shift to more sustainable practices, through education and training for building officials, as well as all others involved in the building industry.  As part of this effort, DCAT convened a working group of building and design professionals to develop a survey to identify specific areas in building regulations that pose challenges to best sustainable practices.

The results from this survey will be compiled and analyzed to develop  a prioritized set of strategies to address the challenges identified by those who respond to the survey questions. We are interested in exploring potential partnerships in all aspects of this process to leverage the effectiveness of this effort. This includes both the short term goals of maximizing the distribution and response to the survey, and the longer term goals of evaluating and reporting the results and formulating strategies to best address the identified challenges. If you or your organization are interested in working with us on this effort, we invite you to contact DCAT and tell us how you would like to be involved.

This research is sposored by the Development Center for Appropriate Technology (DCAT), with partial funding from the Merck Family Fund. Although we have had generous funding from Merck for developing this project, the survey itself and associated costs with its development, compilation, analysis, and follow-up are not fully funded by this support.  We are seeking additional support from a variety of sources, including the green building, design, engineering, development, and related communities in order to maximize the accuracy, integrity, and effectiveness of this overall effort.  If the results of this survey and the potential outcomes resulting from the effort to address the challenges it identifies will be of benefit to you, your organization, profession, or industry, please consider helping support this effort financially.  Donations to DCAT for this purpose are tax-deductible.

DCAT's program, "Building Sustainability into the Codes," is supported by grants from the Wallace Global Fund, the Turner Foundation, and the Compton Foundation, and by many individual contributions.