Remember that photo last month on page three featuring Max Sherman, Richard Morris and Joseph Lstiburek sitting together at ASHRAE's Press Breakfast in Dallas? Remember the tentative agreement reached by the National Home Builders Association (NAHB) and ASHRAE Standard Project Committee 62.2P?

Forget about it.

IE Connections has learned that NAHB is the lone dissenter in a letter ballot vote to move the draft Standard 62.2P, Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Low-Rise Residential Buildings, forward to public review.

With its negative vote, NAHB did submit comments which have been passed along to committee members for vote reconsideration. Sources say that NAHB did not bring any new issues to light in this latest round of comments.

The draft standard is now expected to be sent back to the Standard Project Liaison Subcommittee (SPLS) next month for review. SPLS approved and then tabled the release last fall, citing a lack of consensus "within ASHRAE" and with major industry groups such as NAHB.

Standard 62.2P recommends whole-house mechanical ventilation systems for all residential buildings of three and fewer stories. The intent of the proposed standard is to set guidelines that will improve the quality of residential buildings by providing minimum acceptable IAQ.

NAHB has never been a supporter of mechanical ventilation in homes, one of the contentious issues in the proposed standard. At the ASHRAE Press Breakfast where the tentative agreement was announced, Morris told attendees that, "Natural ventilation is working quite well to combat indoor air problem. ...We're going to take this standard back to our membership. We think they'll approve it, but we [Morris and committee member Tom Kenney] can't decide for them. ...We're looking for cost control. If the [building] costs go up because of the standard, then the agreement will fall apart."

The Standard 62.2P Committee may be experiencing the brunt of ASHRAE's new standard-setting policies. The new policies require that no standard shall be released for public review until consensus is reached "within ASHRAE." This means that committees, such as 62.2P, must involve as many technical committees and outside organizations affected by the standard as possible, so as to come to a middle ground on contentious issues before the standard hits the streets.