What we're reading, following & covering

California Needs New Laws to Boost Earthquake Safety, Assemblyman Says

March 15 | Emergency Management

A Los Angeles lawmaker says California needs new statewide laws that boost earthquake safety, and wants to toughen rules on how strong new buildings should be and require cities to identify buildings at risk of collapse. Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian (D-North Hollywood) said the bills are important for keeping California functioning after a major earthquake. California's construction requirements are so minimal that even a new building can be legally built to a weakness that would leave it severely damaged in an earthquake so much that it would have to be torn down, Nazarian said. Read more.

2 Titles Intended for Health and Safety

March 15 | The Greenville Sun

Your Municipal Code has two titles with rules about where you live. Title 4, Building, Utility, and Housing Codes, is designed to ensure that homes and other structures are built in a safe way. Title 8, Health and Sanitation, focuses on making sure properties are maintained with cleanliness and safety in mind. We're not trying to be control freaks. We're just hoping to keep everyone safe and healthy. Title 4 has 12 chapters, and the Board of Mayor and Aldermen will soon consider deleting one of those, which focuses on storm water and erosion control. Read more.

AWC releases design specifications for wood construction

March 14 | Construction Specifier

American Wood Council (AWC) regularly reviews and updates its codes and standards to keep pace with technological advances and material innovations affecting the use of wood products in the country. By ensuring the provisions of these documents accurately reflect current U.S. safety and performance requirements, and by providing education so that the standards are properly implemented, AWC is helping keep buildings safe. The council recently updated its National Design Specification (NDS) for Wood Construction. Developed by AWC's wood design standards committee, the 2018 NDS is referenced for wood design in this year's International Building Code (IBC). Read more.

Phoenix taking action to cut heat related deaths during dangerous summer month

March 14 | ABC 15

Arizona summers are known for breaking records for all the wrong reasons. Our scorching stretches of triple-digit temperatures are not just uncomfortable, they have turned deadly. In 2017, there were roughly 50 heat-related deaths. Approximately 140 others remain under investigation for their links to the heat. Now, the City of Phoenix is trying to take action with a program the nation has never seen before. "There's no doubt that Phoenix already is a desert city," Mayor Greg Stanton said. "A very hot city is getting hotter." Read more.

P&Z ponders tiny home phenomena

March 14 | The Examiner

The Navasota Planning and Zoning Commission conducted a workshop Thursday, March 8, to address implementation of zoning and design standards for tiny homes. While they've been in existence for 30 years, tiny homes have risen in popularity via shows on the HGTV network, and according to Kris Gruver Community Relations Specialist, the city of Navasota has received a number of permit requests. Gruver told the board, "When we found out the IRC (International Residential Code) will have an appendix in the 2018 version for safety, we (city staff) thought it would be a good time to get in front of y'all to have the discussion." Read more.

Multifamily Industry Calls on Congress to Make Energy Efficient Home Tax Credit Permanent

March 13 | National Multifamily Housing Council

NMHC/NAA spearheaded a coalition letter to the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Tax Policy on March 12 asking that lawmakers make the New Energy Efficient Home Credit permanent. While lawmakers recently extended the incentive through 2017, House tax writers held a March 14 hearing to evaluate the efficacy of renewing expired tax provisions known as extenders. Read more.

Council moves on property code, zoning charge

March 13 | The Messenger

A new code to regulate the appearance of properties in Fort Dodge was advanced by the City Council Monday. The council unanimously approved the first reading of a measure to adopt the 2015 International Property Maintenance Code. The code was first reviewed by the council in November. The elected officials postponed any action on it at that time after Councilman Dean Hill noted that it could be interpreted as prohibiting gravel driveways. On Monday, City Manager David Fierke said any existing gravel driveways will remain legal, but they cannot be expanded. Read more.

Australia can avoid Germany's renewable energy mistakes

March 12 | The Age

Australia's increasing focus on demand response and energy efficiency is setting the country up to bypass the mistakes made by the world leader in renewables, says a German energy expert. "Australia can learn from Germany's mistakes of the last few years," the deputy chairman of the German Business Initiative for Energy Efficiency, the nation's peak energy efficiency body, Christoph von Spesshardt said. "I can see similarities between the situation in Australia now and Germany 10 years ago," he told Fairfax Media. Read more.

This cheap 3d-printed home is a start for the 1 billion who lack shelter

March 12 | The Verge

Food, water, and shelter are basic human needs, but 1.2 billion people in the world live without adequate housing, according to a report by the World Resources Institute's Ross Center for Sustainable Cities. Today at SXSW, an Austin-based startup will unveil its approach to combat that deficiency by using low-cost 3D printing as a potential solution. ICON has developed a method for printing a single-story 650-square-foot house out of cement in only 12 to 24 hours, a fraction of the time it takes for new construction. If all goes according to plan, a community made up of about 100 homes will be constructed for residents in El Salvador next year. Read more.

East Cost Nor'easters Amplify Calls for Resilient Building Code Regulations

March 12 | Engineering News-Record

With two consecutive nor'easters pummeling the East Coast less than two months after January's Bomb Cyclone, and another storm forecasted for March 13 predicted to drop more than a foot of snow architects, engineers, politicians and environmental groups in Massachusetts are calling for state regulators to force building owners to protect their properties from extreme wind, flooding and heat related to climate change and sea level rise. "Whether we like it or not this is going to happen again and again," says Blake Jackson, Stantec's Boston-based sustainability design leader. Read more.

Pikes Peak region building code changes improve energy efficiency for a prices

March 11 | The Gazette

A new regional building code will likely ensure that homes constructed across the Pikes Peak region are more energy efficient. But those improvements will come at a cost, adding several thousand dollars to the price of a new home, builders estimate. The latest edition of the regional building code recently cleared two hurdles when it was approved late last month by the Colorado Springs City Council and El Paso County Board of Commissioners, signaling the near culmination of a more than two-year process to bring the rules in line with newer national standards. Read more.

Lightning Strikes Church in Rwanda, Kills 16 and Injures 140

March 11 | The Daily Caller

Lightning struck a a Seventh Day Adventist church in southern Rwanda's mountainous region Saturday and killed 16 people and injured 140. The majority of those who died were killed instantly, though two people succumbed to their injuries sometime afterward. The other 140 harmed were rushed to medical care facilities, according to BBC. Lightning struck during a Saturday church service in the town of Gihemvu and was the second such incident to occur in two days, as Friday lightning hit a group of 18 students and killed one, according to the Associated Press. Read more.

Silent Killer: Good Thunder couple call for greater carbon monoxide protections

March 11 | Mankato Free Press

The morning after checking into a Perryton, Texas, Best Western in August 2017, David and Patricia Ivie were found unconscious in their room. Exposed to carbon monoxide gas, they were whisked away to a nearby hospital. It was just the start of the couple's agonizing final months. By October, Pat was dead at age 58. David spent his final weeks at his son’s home in Good Thunder before dying days before Christmas at 62. Read more.

13 Home Improvements Projects You Didn't Know are Illegal to FIY

March 10 | Go Banking Rates

With a decent set of tools, a little bit of know-how and a healthy dose of courage, DIYers can save money and earn bragging rights by handling tough home renovation jobs themselves. Some house renovation work, however, is best left to the pros and in many cases, the law demands it. A patchwork of state and local regulations and in some cases federal statutes require homeowners to hire professionals, or at least get permission, to perform remodeling work that could potentially end with homeowners blowing up, burning, crushing, zapping or poisoning themselves, their neighbors or their houses. Read more.

Cannabis is Changing How We Build

March 8 | Santa Barbara Independent

As cannabis is being legalized and gaining recreational and medicinal use in more and more areas, it is also showing potential to transform the building sector. Another variety, Cannabis sativa, is a fast-growing, weed-like plant that flourishes in a wide range of climates and soil conditions. It can grow up to 15 feet with stalks an inch in diameter. For building purposes, it is the plant's inner layer that gets combined with lime and water to be made into construction material. Read more.

Bulletproof whiteboards could be lifesavers in schools

March 8 | Cleveland Jewish News

Following the Feb. 14 deaths of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Maple Heights businessman Herbert Neides believes his Wonderboard could provide some protection or even save lives in the event of another school shooting. Neides, a Gates Mills resident, is president of both Clifton Steel and Safe Place Solutions. The latter produces the Wonderboard, a bulletproof whiteboard that can roll in front of a door and lock in place. That functionality could provide students attempting to hide or escape an attack valuable time to do so, Neides said. Read more.

Commissioners oppose state building code bill

March 9 | Idaho Mountain Express

A bill moving through the Legislature that would ban cities and counties from crafting their own building codes has local Democrats in a somewhat unusual position: Pushing for more local control. Each of the Blaine County commissioners has sounded off against H547, which flew through the House last Friday on the back of a 52-16 vote. As written, the bill would prevent jurisdictions from adopting rules for residential construction beyond those set by the Idaho Building Code Board. Read more.

Wood-frame apartments are cheaper to build, but fire risks increase

March 8 | Denver ABC 7

There are more than a hundred apartment complexes under construction or recently completed in Denver built with wood frames, like Emerson Place, which burned to the ground in Uptown Wednesday. "Cities just as busy as we are in Denver, building just as fast, unfortunately, this is a tragedy that I don't know if it was preventable," explained Denver's building official, Scott Prisco. The five-story apartment complex under construction at 18th Ave. and Emerson St. was all wood-frame when it went up in flames. Read more.

Bulletproof whiteboards could be lifesavers on schools

March 8 | Cleveland Jewish News

Following the Feb. 14 deaths of 17 students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., Maple Heights businessman Herbert Neides believes his Wonderboard could provide some protection or even save lives in the event of another school shooting. Neides, a Gates Mills resident, is president of both Clifton Steel and Safe Place Solutions. The latter produces the Wonderboard, a bulletproof whiteboard that can roll in front of a door and lock in place. That functionality could provide students attempting to hide or escape an attack valuable time to do so, Neides said. Read more.

Paul Newman's Social Enterprise Now Provides Clean Water to Nearly 1 Million People

March 8 | Forbes

Nearly 4.5 billion people around the globe will live without access to safe water by 2030 under current spending levels and conditions, according to the United Nations. Despite the billions of dollars spent on water projects, nearly a third of all rural water systems are inoperable at any given time; many more don't function reliably and provide unsafe water. Consequently, people needlessly die every day, and millions more unnecessarily suffer from poor health and lost work and school days. Read more.