Construction Reinvented.
Spring Issue: Which Green Designation is Right for You?
The big news at the 2009 International Builders’ Show (IBS) in Las Vegas this past January, was NAHB’s National Green Building Standard was approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The National Green Building Standard applies to all residential construction work, including single-family homes, apartments and condos, land development and remodeling and renovation. The approval signals a new era for the nation’s builders, remodelers and developers and also provides an extra measure of reassurance for home buyers, said Joe Robson, a home builder in Tulsa, Okla., and Chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).
“The National Green Building Standard is now the first and only green building rating system approved by ANSI, making it the benchmark for green homes,” said Ron Jones, who chaired the consensus committee charged with developing the standard.
“The standard provides home builders and remodelers with a much more expansive third-party rating system that they can use to achieve green certification under NAHBGreen and the National Green Building Certification Program,” said Mike Luzier, CEO of the NAHB Research Center.
The Research Center provides certification for NAHBGreen projects, which until now have only included single-family homes. “Consumers are looking for authentic, verifiable green building practices, and now they’ll find them with a true industry consensus standard for residential green building,” Luzier said.
The standard defines what green practices can be incorporated into residential development and construction and how home owners can operate and maintain their green homes.
But the National Green Building Standard also provides for flexibility – allowing home builders and home buyers to make green choices based on climate and geography as well as style preferences and budget.
As part of the stringent process required by ANSI, NAHB and the International Code Council gathered a fully inclusive and representative consensus committee composed of a broad spectrum of builders, architects, product manufacturers, regulators and environmental experts. The work of the consensus committee was administered by the NAHB Research Center, an ANSI Accredited Standards Developer.
The consensus committee deliberated the content of the standard for more than a year, held four public hearings and evaluated more than 2,000 public comments in the development of the standard.
Seven Areas Include Building Systems
Like the guidelines that they are based on, the standard requires builders to include features in seven categories: energy, water and resource efficiency; lot and site development; indoor environmental quality and homeowner education. It also adds the higher Emerald Level to the Bronze, Silver and Gold certification levels for the Guidelines and it includes points for using a building system.
“The National Green Building Standard will make it easier for builders to build green. Having this information available in an ANSI standard means that it’s in the language that builders don’t need a special consultant to understand,” says Miles Haber, a multifamily developer in Rockville, Md.
“NAHB’s decision to transform the existing guidelines into a standard, exposing its work to the rigors of the ANSI consensus process and peer review, is yet another testament to the firm commitment the association has taken to support inclusive green building,” says Michael Luzier, president of NAHB Research Center. The Research Center is an accredited standards developer and charged with shepherding the ANSI standard development process through a series of public hearings and comment periods.
The NAHB rating system features an online scoring tool, which shows builders how to accumulate points in seven categories: water, energy and resource efficiency; lot and site development; indoor environmental quality; global impact and homeowner education. To be eligible for certification, the NAHB program requires a builder to achieve a minimum score in each category.
A Host of Other Green Designations
Builders in Austin, TX, were the first to launch a green building program for single-family homes. Today there are two main green designations. The aforementioned NAHB’s National Green Standard; the other is the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED-H Program, (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—For Homes).
However, the LEED program is far more stringent, say builders who have built to both standards, requiring much more hours of paperwork, testing and certification—the cost associated with it is more expensive as well.
Green building phenomenon is spreading rapidly in some markets. In Seattle’s King County, a full 20% of all new homes are now certified as green. There are more than 60 local organizations that have established their own guidelines of what it means to be green. Many of these local organizations have based their model on NAHB’s program, just for ease of use and less cost.
But the NAHB and LEED programs have competition from other rating systems, including the federal government’s ENERGY STAR for homes program, a voluntary certification of energy performance, which certified roughly 700,000 homes from 2004 through 2007. This certification is based on cutting energy use by 15% from the 2004 International Residential Code (IRC), which is the ENERGY STAR standard. However, this program doesn’t address many green building tenets, including water savings, landscaping, use of a building system, etc.
If you want to check out how the LEED designation works, visit the website to download the LEED for Homes Rating System and Checklist. These documents are an easy way to familiarize yourself with the program, so you can decide if you want to take the next step and register a project.
If you’re ready to register a project, you should connect with the LEED for Homes Provider. They’ll walk through the checklist with you so that you can see how LEED for Homes applies to your project. Your Provider will also help you complete a HERS rating or other onsite inspections that may be required to submit your project for LEED certification.
Other Options
But there are other notable programs as well, including the EarthCraft Home rating system in four Southeastern states; there is the Environments for Living standard supported by General Electric, one of the largest seller of Energy Star home appliances, and a Healthy House standard from the respected American Lung Association.
But whichever standard you decide to follow as a builder, it’s clear that green homes will grab a significant share of the market in the next few years. Here’s hoping it allows the building systems industries, i.e. concrete, log, modular and panel building technologies, to move well beyond the 30% share of all new housing, which were energy and resource efficient long before this current green wave grabbed headlines.
“The National Green Building Standard is now the first and only green building rating system approved by ANSI, making it the benchmark for green homes,” said Ron Jones, who chaired the consensus committee charged with developing the standard.
“The standard provides home builders and remodelers with a much more expansive third-party rating system that they can use to achieve green certification under NAHBGreen and the National Green Building Certification Program,” said Mike Luzier, CEO of the NAHB Research Center.
The Research Center provides certification for NAHBGreen projects, which until now have only included single-family homes. “Consumers are looking for authentic, verifiable green building practices, and now they’ll find them with a true industry consensus standard for residential green building,” Luzier said.
The standard defines what green practices can be incorporated into residential development and construction and how home owners can operate and maintain their green homes.
But the National Green Building Standard also provides for flexibility – allowing home builders and home buyers to make green choices based on climate and geography as well as style preferences and budget.
As part of the stringent process required by ANSI, NAHB and the International Code Council gathered a fully inclusive and representative consensus committee composed of a broad spectrum of builders, architects, product manufacturers, regulators and environmental experts. The work of the consensus committee was administered by the NAHB Research Center, an ANSI Accredited Standards Developer.
The consensus committee deliberated the content of the standard for more than a year, held four public hearings and evaluated more than 2,000 public comments in the development of the standard.
Seven Areas Include Building Systems
Like the guidelines that they are based on, the standard requires builders to include features in seven categories: energy, water and resource efficiency; lot and site development; indoor environmental quality and homeowner education. It also adds the higher Emerald Level to the Bronze, Silver and Gold certification levels for the Guidelines and it includes points for using a building system.
“The National Green Building Standard will make it easier for builders to build green. Having this information available in an ANSI standard means that it’s in the language that builders don’t need a special consultant to understand,” says Miles Haber, a multifamily developer in Rockville, Md.
“NAHB’s decision to transform the existing guidelines into a standard, exposing its work to the rigors of the ANSI consensus process and peer review, is yet another testament to the firm commitment the association has taken to support inclusive green building,” says Michael Luzier, president of NAHB Research Center. The Research Center is an accredited standards developer and charged with shepherding the ANSI standard development process through a series of public hearings and comment periods.
The NAHB rating system features an online scoring tool, which shows builders how to accumulate points in seven categories: water, energy and resource efficiency; lot and site development; indoor environmental quality; global impact and homeowner education. To be eligible for certification, the NAHB program requires a builder to achieve a minimum score in each category.
A Host of Other Green Designations
Builders in Austin, TX, were the first to launch a green building program for single-family homes. Today there are two main green designations. The aforementioned NAHB’s National Green Standard; the other is the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED-H Program, (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—For Homes).
However, the LEED program is far more stringent, say builders who have built to both standards, requiring much more hours of paperwork, testing and certification—the cost associated with it is more expensive as well.
Green building phenomenon is spreading rapidly in some markets. In Seattle’s King County, a full 20% of all new homes are now certified as green. There are more than 60 local organizations that have established their own guidelines of what it means to be green. Many of these local organizations have based their model on NAHB’s program, just for ease of use and less cost.
But the NAHB and LEED programs have competition from other rating systems, including the federal government’s ENERGY STAR for homes program, a voluntary certification of energy performance, which certified roughly 700,000 homes from 2004 through 2007. This certification is based on cutting energy use by 15% from the 2004 International Residential Code (IRC), which is the ENERGY STAR standard. However, this program doesn’t address many green building tenets, including water savings, landscaping, use of a building system, etc.
If you want to check out how the LEED designation works, visit the website to download the LEED for Homes Rating System and Checklist. These documents are an easy way to familiarize yourself with the program, so you can decide if you want to take the next step and register a project.
If you’re ready to register a project, you should connect with the LEED for Homes Provider. They’ll walk through the checklist with you so that you can see how LEED for Homes applies to your project. Your Provider will also help you complete a HERS rating or other onsite inspections that may be required to submit your project for LEED certification.
Other Options
But there are other notable programs as well, including the EarthCraft Home rating system in four Southeastern states; there is the Environments for Living standard supported by General Electric, one of the largest seller of Energy Star home appliances, and a Healthy House standard from the respected American Lung Association.
But whichever standard you decide to follow as a builder, it’s clear that green homes will grab a significant share of the market in the next few years. Here’s hoping it allows the building systems industries, i.e. concrete, log, modular and panel building technologies, to move well beyond the 30% share of all new housing, which were energy and resource efficient long before this current green wave grabbed headlines.
Tags: certification, green building, special report, standards
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