The National Association of Homebuilders and the International Code Council are expected to move forward this month with meetings of a consensus committee charged with developing a new standard for green building based on NAHB’s voluntary Model Green Home Building Guidelines.
The two groups announced plans to collaborate on the standards at NAHB’s International Builders’ Show Feb 7. In the past month, the NAHB Research Center, which is coordinating the effort, has taken applications for participation in the process.
The goal of the effort is an adaptation of the model guidelines into code language that could be adopted on either a mandatory or voluntary basis by local building authorities or green home-building programs.
“We’re looking at this as an opportunity to bring green mainstream,” said Callie Schmidt, environmental communications director for NAHB. The intent, she said, is to set an attainable baseline that can be applied by many builders across the country. “Green building itself is a higher bar for some than others,” she said. Production builders in particular, she said, “are looking for something they can apply across the country; they’re looking for uniformity.”
The new standard is not expected to take the place of other green building programs. “There are a lot of great green building programs out there,” Schmidt said. “What NAHB sees they have in common is that they are voluntary, and they’re not mandates, which tends to freeze an emerging science in place.”
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), whose LEED for Homes program is expected to roll out this summer, immediately announced its support for NAHB’s effort and asked for a place on the standards committee. Michelle Moore, USGBC vice president for community, said the new standards would not affect the LEED plan and hopes the new standards will be enhanced by building research LEED has done.
“Ultimately, the goal of USGBC is market transformation,” Moore said. “We want to set a high bar that challenges people to learn and do better.”
“There’s always this dynamic tension between pushing the envelope and (promoting) what everybody can do,” Moore added, noting that she expects the NAHB-ICC standard and LEED can “coexist harmoniously.”
The ICC has become increasingly involved in green building as more builders have employed green-building methods and materials, said Allan Bilka, an ICC staff architect working with NAHB. “These are issues our code officials are faced with, and we don’t want the codes to be a barrier to (green building),” he said. The ICC develops standards used to construct both residential and commercial buildings; those standards become code when adopted by local legislative bodies.
The standard development process, ending with approval by the American National Standards Institute, is expected to be completed by the end of 2008.
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