NAHB has announced that they have received ANSI approval for their new National Green Building Standard™. This new standard will apply to all residential construction work including single-family homes, apartments and condos, remodeling, and renovation. The standard provides builders and remodelers with a third-party rating system under which they can achieve green certification. Home builders and home buyers can make green choices based on climate, geography, style preferences and budget.
The National Green Building Standard is similar to NAHB’s Green Homebuilder Guidelines, in that a builder or remodeler must incorporate a minimum number of features in the following areas:
• Energy Efficiency
• Water Efficiency
• Resource Efficiency
• Lot and Site Development
• Indoor Environmental Quality
• Operation, Maintenance, and Education
However, the new standard has more mandatory requirements and uses higher thresholds for many of the categories when compared to the Guidelines. A point system is used for the green building categories mentioned above. Performance levels include Bronze, Silver, Gold and Emerald which are all based on a minimum number of points and mandatory compliance with certain practices. Many of those mandatory measures are consistent with the International Residential Code. The baseline for energy savings has been updated to IECC 2006. For example, to qualify for Bronze performance in the Energy Efficiency chapter, a home must be at least 15% better than the 2006 IECC (equivalent to ENERGY STAR™ Home).
Cool roofing, including above sheathing ventilation, is addressed in the Energy Efficiency chapter and in the Maintenance chapter with regard to durability.