ASTM International (formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials) has promulgated internationally-recognized standards for specifying and testing materials, products, and systems since 1898. Since 2008, ASTM has included Committee E60, a committee dedicated to developing and improving standards particularly related to sustainability. This committee and its subcommittee on Building and Construction have recently released ASTM Standards for Sustainability in Building, 4th edition, a compilation of all of the ASTM standards that have been incorporated into the Federal Green Construction Guide for Specifiers, the current public draft of the International Green Construction Code, and the Green Globes® sustainability rating system.
The compilation includes 149 ASTM standards relating to sustainable design and construction. Among these standards are the broad overall Standard Guide for General Principles of Sustainability Relative to Buildings, which describes methods of decision-making in “applied sustainability” (real-world sustainability involving cost-benefit trade-offs), and an overall Standard Practice for Data Collection for Sustainability Assessment of Building Products. The compilation also includes many more specific sustainability-related standards. Illustrative examples include:
test methods for determining the VOC content of coatings, the formaldehyde content of wood, and for measuring various other components of common building materials,
a guide for determining organic emissions from indoor materials,
test methods for assessing the resistance of building materials to fungus, mold, and bacterial growth,
practices, specifications, and test methods relating to green roof design and construction,
specifications for use of fly ash in soil stabilization and in other recycling applications,
methods of assessing acoustical properties of building materials,
numerous standard practices and test methods relating to photovoltaic systems, including a test method of measuring their electrical performance, and
test methods for determining the air-tightness of buildings.
The compilation is a useful resource for planners, designers, constructors, and others engaged in sustainable and high-performance building projects. It is available on a searchable CD-ROM, from ASTM, here.
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