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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPBE_NAHB_Green_Building_Program_2_13_08 i The NAHB Green Building Program is your guarantee of an authentically green home that's built the way you want. Cost-effective,flexible and sensible. Make your homes more resource and energy efficient with the NAHB National Green Building Program. Through the National Green Building Program, the National Association of Home Builders is helping its members move the practice of green building into the mainstream. Energy efficiency, water and resource conservation, sustainable or recycled products, and indoor air quality are increasingly incorporated into the everyday process of home building. The National Green Building Program offers several resources and tools to help builders, remodelers, home building associations, and homeowners learn how to build green, and the benefits of doing so. According to a survey done in late 2007, the vast majority of residential builders and developers -- 90% -- are interested in participating in a voluntary green building certification program. The National Green Building Program was developed to link dozens of successful state and local voluntary green building programs (who alone have certified over 100,000 homes as of 2007) with a national online scoring tool for builders and verifiers. Specific program components include: o NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines. Published in 2005, the voluntary Guidelines cover seven areas, including lot preparation and design, resource efficiency, energy efficiency,water efficiency and conservation, occupancy comfort and indoor environmental quality, and operation, maintenance and homeowner education. These Guidelines are the basis for the Green Scoring Tool, but were also written for local organizations to use as a foundation for their own Green Building program, for easy customization to reflect local geographic and climate conditions. o www.nahb reen.org, the official National Green Building Program website. Learn more about the resources and tools offered through this site. o The NAHB National Green Building Program Hotline at 877-NAHB-GRN (877-624-2476). The Hotline is available from 8:30 AM —6:00 PM Eastern time to answer questions, address comments, and provide resources to professionals looking to build green. o A yearly National Green Building Conference. The 2008 conference will be held in New Orleans May 11-13, and features exhibits, education sessions, networking opportunities, tours, and awards programs, including the National Green Building Program Awards, and with the National Arbor Day Foundation, and the annual Building With Trees awards. o A national certification program that enables builders across the country to assure their homes are green, even if no local program exists in their area. o The National Green Building Program Awards recognizes individuals, companies and organizations that are "bringing green to the mainstream," by transforming green design and construction practices. Several categories honor green building programs, marketing, green building advocates, and projects. Entries for the 2008 award program were submitted by January 31, 2008. National education programs, including a two-day education course offered at the National Green Building Conference, and also offered by local HBAs. o The Certified Green Professional Designation program which launched in 2008. What is Green Home Building? It seems like everything is "going green" lately; cars, companies, even your morning cup of coffee. What does it mean to build green? Building green means incorporating environmental considerations and resource efficiency into every step of the home building and land development process to minimize environmental impact. That means that during the design, construction, and operation of a home, energy and water efficiency, lot development, resource efficient building design and materials, indoor environmental quality, homeowner maintenance, and the home's overall impact on the environment are all taken into account. Although we cannot avoid affecting the environment when a house is built, green building can work toward minimizing that environmental impact. The concept isn't new; our great-grandparents built climate-appropriate homes using locally-available materials. Today's green homes incorporate not only climatic considerations, but are resource and energy efficient, safer for occupants, and often less expensive to maintain. Most builders are using green building practices in their homes as part of their current standard practices; ENERGY STAR® windows and appliances, recycled content materials, and water-conserving fixtures are all important parts of a green built home. To move to the next step of sustainable building, the builder should consider a whole-house systems approach. The home is composed of several independent components which, when planned and fully considered, can work together to increase performance and efficiency. For example, making a home's building envelope tighter through air sealing and quality building techniques can affect the way the builder designs the home's ventilation system. It is through such a forward-thinking process that builders can gain cost efficiencies. How do I get started? The NAHB_Model Green Home Building Guidelines is an ideal place to start. The guidelines consist of a variety of line items that a builder can choose from in creating a green home, organized into seven overarching sections, or guiding principles: Lot Design, Resource Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, Indoor Environmental Quality, Homeowner Education, and Global Impact. Each line item in the guidelines has a point value attributed to it,which was determined by taking three different concepts into consideration: Environmental Impact — The guidelines provide a framework for builders to reduce a home's environmental impact, taking into account all available data. Using qualitative and quantitative information, the team assigned value to each line item based on the positive impact to the environment. Building Science and Best Building Practices — Certain practices dramatically affect a home's operation. For example, the sealing of a home's building envelope has an impact on the home's HVAC system. In addition, proper flashing details and installation of weather barriers enhance durability andminimize the possibility of indoor environmental problems. Line items that help a home perform effectively as a system for the long term were assigned a higher point value. Ease of Implementation — The development team compared each line item to current practices and estimated how difficult it would be for a builder to implement the line item.. For instance, would it take What is available on www.nahbgreen-orn? This site contains a multitude of resources to help home building professionals, consumers, planners, and other audiences interested in learning about and building green. ........ ........... ...... .................. Mighlights include: T.:­;,51w • The NAHB Green Scoring Tool walks users step-by- ........................................... step through the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines, with an easy to use "wizard" format that allows them to score their building project with a series ........................ Lit: of checkboxes. Verification information, additional r. resources, and keyword definitions are never more than a click away, so users can get more information about ............. the technologies and strategies outlined in the Guidelines. Importantly, the NAHB Green Scoring Tool is organized so users can navigate to the section or line ..................... ...... ............................. item of their choice at any time. The Tool contains several different types of summaries and reports, including a "dashboard" on every page, so the user can review the progress of their project in a number of ways, from any screen within the tool. Users must re ister to use the interactive scoring tool. Registration is free, and allows you to save, edit, review and track green home projects. There is no limit on the number of open projects, which provides the.unique opportunity to compare building options. If you have already completed the registration process, sign in to return to your projects. • Help and Resource Guides - In addition to being available at every step of the NAHB Green Scoring Tool, the Resource Guide in the Help section provide a user with a searchable list of additional resources which provide more information on the techniques and technologies outlined in the Guidelines and NAHB Green Scoring Tool, and the Glossary defines key terms used. The Help feature also provides more information on features and how to use the NAHB Green Scoring Tool. • The NAHB Allodel Green Home Building Guidelines are available in PDF format for download, including a checklist-only version. • The Find a Local Program page lists programs all around the country. • Targeted content for home building professionals, HBAs, planners and policy makers, and home owners/buyers, including benefits of green building and additional resources. • Links to additional program information such as Education opportunities,News & Events, and more. History of the NAHB Green Building Program An overview of NAHB's committment to helping its members move the practice of green building into the mainstream. The exploding market for sustainable, environmentally friendly and recycled building products, along with the greater availability of educational opportunities for builders, has accelerated green building's acceptance rate in the marketplace. It is the role of the National Association of Home Builders to prepare members for such shifts with programs addressing education, recognition, and market awareness. The Green Building Subcommittee was established by NAHB in 1998, and the first National Green Building Conference was held in 1999 for builders, remodelers and developers. Then in early 2004, NAHB convened a group of builders, researchers, environmental experts and designers to write the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines so that members could easily develop local green building programs. Published in 2005, the voluntary Guidelines cover seven areas, including lot preparation and design, resource efficiency, energy efficiency, water efficiency and conservation, occupancy comfort and indoor environmental quality, and operation, maintenance and homeowner education, and can be customized to reflect local geographic and climate conditions. During these years, local home building associations (HBAs) also saw the increased role green building played in the marketplace, and developed green building certification programs for their members. Of the more than 60 programs in existence in late 2007, 30 are administered in cooperation with state and local HBAs, 24 of which are based on the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines. Dozens more are in development. Visit www.nahbgreen.orp,to see the local programs listings to find programs in your area. Building upon the success of the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines, the NAHB National Green Building Program launched at the 2008 International Builders Show. The national initiative includes an online scoring tool and a wealth of educational tools and resources for home builders and home buyers. More options are planned including a national registry of green homes and green builders. NAHB is also developing an ANSI standard based on the Model Green Home Building Guidelines that is scheduled to be released in 2008. The standard will apply to single-family and multifamily homes, as well as to remodeling and land development, allowing home builders to take advantage of the first and only consensus-based, American National Standards Institute-certified standard for green building. The task is made easier because the Guidelines were created using the ANSI protocols for developing a consensus- based document. While standards can be adopted into regulation, not all standards are intended to be implemented as regulatory tools, but are always viewed as accepted industry best practices. NAHB expects the ANSI standard to bolster the success of our members efforts and facilitate green's growth to the mainstream. For information on the standard development process, see www.nahbrc.org//gbstandard.