NAHB's Model Green Home Building Guidelines were written in 2004 to help move environmentally-friendly home building concepts further into the mainstream marketplace. It is one of two rating systems that make up NAHBGreen, the National Green Building Program.
The guidelines contain seven sections:
Lot Preparation and Design
Resource Efficiency
Energy Efficiency
Water Efficiency and Conservation
Global Impact
Occupancy Comfort and Indoor Environmental Quality
Home Owner Guidance on How to Optimally Operate and Maintain the House
Each section contains a set of provisions that explain how a builder can incorporate green building concepts into a single-family home project. A free scoring tool at www.nahbgreen.org helps the builder total the points in each section. Builders can also choose to hire a verifier to inspect the home and then certify it to the Bronze, Silver or Gold levels of NAHBGreen. NAHB members pay $200 to certify a home in NAHBGreen; inspection fees vary by market.
Home builders, remodelers, and developers can also choose to have projects certified to the National Green Building Standard, the most recent rating system to be incorporated into NAHBGreen. The standard was approved by the American National Standards Institute in January 2009, making it the first consensus standard for the residential building industry. Buy a copy of the National Green Building Standard at www.builderbooks.com.
Scoring tools to certify single-family homes, remodeling and renovation projects, apartments and condos, and subdivisions are available at www.nahbgreen.org. Certification costs are $200 for NAHB members (with a separate price schedule for multiple-home projects); verififcation costs vary by market.
For more information about this item, please contact Kevin Morrow at 800-368-5242 x8375 or via e-mail at kmorrow@nahb.org.
