Archive for the 'Building codes' Category

Green Building Standards

Monday, February 2nd, 2009

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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Posted in Building codes, Industry, NAHB | 1 Comment »

Green building

Friday, December 12th, 2008

RD&B magazine sent a survey to readers in November 2008 to get insight into the industry. The results were interesting - some surprising and some expected. One statistic that wasn’t necessarily surprising was that 72% of respondents said their green practices will increase in 2009. And with that, only 1.5% of respondents said they don’t use green practices at all.

Codes and laws regulating green/energy-efficiency seem to becoming the standard. EPA now has its WaterSense program to regulate water-saving products; LEED helps builders certify their projects as green; and more associations are providing resources on green topics. But at some point does green building simply mean good building?

I met an architect on my flight home from the American Institute of Architects Conference this past May who believes strongly in building sustainably. This architect builds mostly commercial structures which can be found in Dubai, China, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S., just to name a few. He doesn’t think that designing green or sustainable structures means they have to be small. He also doesn’t believe that you have to make people live in communal societies. This architect felt strongly that you can still design and build the buildings you want, but it just requires more thinking and engineering involved. One thing he said that stayed with me is that you can’t tell Americans they can’t have their dream home just because you want to design or build green. You can give them their dream homes as well as do good for the planet.

-Maureen

Posted in AIA, Building codes, Industry | No Comments »

CBIA calls builders to act

Thursday, December 4th, 2008

I received a release this morning from the California Building Industry Association calling for members to voice their concern of a new proposed law by the California Resources Air Board. This new law would put a new cap on emission gasses which the CBIA says would put a greater burden on the housing industry. The CBIA expresses urgency and emotion in the release. 

California does have a reputation of having strict building/housing codes. But does this new law go too far? Will it really affect the housing market as harshly as the release implies?

For California builders, what is your opinion of this new change happening in your state?

Check out the release here. The release also includes a link to a page for voicing your concern of the new law.  

~Maureen

Posted in Building codes, Laws/acts | No Comments »