Home Builders Go Green, or Do They?
The big news out of the U.S. last week was the announcement of the new national green home rating system from the National Association of Home Builders , representing more than 230,000 U.S. homebuilding companies. In making the announcement, NAHB officials termed the program “voluntary, market-driven, flexible and affordable” and stressed that the certification paperwork would cost less than $500 per home. Is there less there than meets the eye?...
The NAHB National Green Building Program, an education, verification and certification program, allows builders anywhere in the U.S. to certify a green home to bronze, silver or gold levels, using third-party verifiers furnished by the NAHB Research Center. The NAHB rating system features an online scoring tool, which shows builders how to accumulate points in seven categories: water, energy and resource efficiency; lot and site development; indoor environmental quality; global impact and homeowner education. To be eligible for certification, the NAHB program requires a builder to achieve a minimum score in each category.
Whilst an improvement on the current NAHB system, which does not provide for independent third-party verification of each home, using such tools as a “blower-door” air leakage test and a duct-pressurization test, the announced program has two shortcomings. First of all, it is not yet a national standard, since NAHB has yet to complete the requirements of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). Second, the third-party verifiers have yet to be certified by the NAHB Research Center. So it will likely be the summer of 2008 before all the pieces are in place.
The somewhat premature launch of this program at the annual International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida, was, I believe, an attempt to put the NAHB back in charge of green home ratings and to reduce the burgeoning number of local government rating systems and green home mandates, based on climate change concerns.
I predict this effort to forestall or eliminate competition will fail, for several reasons. First of all, for all the fanfare, builders have certified (to NAHB or similar building industry standards) only about 100,000 homes the past five years across the country, compared with six million or so single-family homes that have been built. It’s hard to convince local government officials that the industry is serious about producing energy-efficient buildings when the actual track record of certifications is so deficient.
In my view, the real story behind the NAHB announcement results from the increasing pressure builders’ organizations are feeling from the competing (and more stringent) LEED for Homes standard promulgated by the 13,000-member U.S. Green Building Council. LEED for Homes is still in a pilot (test) phase, but in two years has already enrolled more than 12,000 residential units in its program. If LEED becomes regarded as the “gold standard” of residential certification, the NAHB may have to accept local green home mandates in order to preserve some semblance of primacy as the leading authority for greening the housing industry. Home builders oppose local mandates with a singular passion, not wanting government authorities to regulate the housing choices they offer the marketplace.
Posted by (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 02/18/2008 at 09:45 PM
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