Approved by the American National Standards Institute in February 2009, the National Green Building Standard has been gradually gaining traction among builders seeking a marketing lift in a tough economy. The National Association of Home Builders, whose NAHB Research Center collaborated with the International Code Council to develop the ICC-700 code on which the standard is based, recently announced that 2,000 projects – totaling more than 3,200 residential units – have since qualified for NGBS certification.
That’s a respectable showing in a sector dominated by the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Homes certification program but also populated by other evaluation systems such as EarthCraft House, Earth Advantage Institute, and the newly released revision of the Energy Star program. LEED for Homes, though, is the certification brand that homebuyers seem to recognize most readily. After a two-year trial program, it officially launched in Febraury 2008 and, based on the LEED for Homes certification listings on the USGBC website, has landed about 9,400 certifications since.
Striving for Silver
Still, National Green Building Standard certifications have found favor across the country in a wide range of residential and mixed-use settings, from single-family homes and townhouses to various multiunit configurations, large developments, and renovation projects. Program awards points for incorporating green practices in lot and site development; resource efficiency; energy efficiency; water efficiency; indoor environmental quality; and homeowner education.
There are four certification levels, identified, in ascending order of points scored, as Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Emerald. The focus for green certified development projects, NAHB notes in a press release about participation in the NGBS program, is on preservation of topography and natural resources, storm water management, greater density, and proximity to mass transit.
The 2,000th project, a 42-home development in rural Cecil County, Maryland, called Murphy’s Run, is being built by Barry Andrews Homes, which noted that it plans to earn certification at least to the Silver level for each of the homes in the development.
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One of at least a dozen models offered by Maryland-based Barry Andrews Homes, whose 42-home development in Cecil County, Murphy’s Run, is the 2,000th project and 12th development to be certified under the National Green Building Standard, the National Association of Home Builders’ benchmark for green residential construction. This house is a variation of a four-bedroom model marketed as the Coppitt, with a two-car garage entrance on the right side of the house.
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Another version of the Coppitt model (a first-floor layout, with garage entrances facing front) being built at Murphy’s Run, where builder Barry Andrews Homes is striving for a National Green Building Standard rating of Silver for all 42 homes it will build in the development.
