Green Building Standards
Big news! Green Building Standards are now available. The American National Standards Institute approved the standards last Thursday. This news is big for the custom build/design industry. These new standards give some clarity to trades as well as homeowners. Homeowners now have something to rely on when someone tells them “this is green.” Below is a release from NAHB about the approval. It’s definitely a great step forward for the industry.
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NAHB APPLAUDS ANSI APPROVAL OF NATIONAL GREEN BUILDING STANDARD
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 –The National Green Building Standard for all residential construction work including single-family homes, apartments and condos, land development and remodeling and renovation was approved today by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
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 over 3,000 public comments in the development of the standard.
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April 3rd, 2009 at 9:23 am
I am very excited about this approval by ANSI. This brings us one step closer to providing a economical way to verify the”green” rating of a home. I think the consumer is the best beneficiary of all the new technologies. We as industry professionals should be presenting our clients with all available options. The word “green” used to cost green… now that has changed. Now that “green” has become mainstream and every manufacturer has green certified products, the cost of materials is coming down. Here at Dominick Tringali Architects, we have been working with Habitat for Humanity on a new prototype home. The construction on the home is nearly completed, and is being built in the Detroit area as a model designed to achieve Green Built Michigan and LEED-Platinum certifications. This 1,768 sq.ft., 5 bedroom, two bath home is being built for under $100,000 with yearly energy costs totaling just over $700. So, it is possible to build “green” affordably, and save money on all the monthly utility bills. Who doesn’t want to save money if you give them the option?