Green Day Has Finally Arrived

NAHB APPLAUDS ANSI APPROVAL OF NATIONAL GREEN BUILDING STANDARD

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 --The National Green Building Standard for all residential construction work including single-family homes, apartments and condos, land development and remodeling and renovation was approved today by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

The approval signals a new era for the nation's builders, remodelers and developers and also provides an extra measure of reassurance for home buyers, said Joe Robson, a home builder in Tulsa, Okla., and Chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

"The National Green Building Standard is now the first and only green building rating system approved by ANSI, making it the benchmark for green homes," said Ron Jones, who chaired the consensus committee charged with developing the standard.
"The standard provides home builders and remodelers with a much more expansive third-party rating system that they can use to achieve green certification under NAHBGreen and the National Green Building Certification Program," said Mike Luzier, CEO of the NAHB Research Center.

The Research Center provides certification for NAHBGreen projects, which until now have only included single-family homes. "Consumers are looking for authentic, verifiable green building practices, and now they'll find them with a true industry consensus standard for residential green building," Luzier said.

The standard defines what green practices can be incorporated into residential development and construction and how home owners can operate and maintain their green homes.

But the National Green Building Standard also provides for flexibility - allowing home builders and home buyers to make green choices based on climate and geography as well as style preferences and budget.

As part of the stringent process required by ANSI, NAHB and the International Code Council gathered a fully inclusive and representative consensus committee composed of a broad spectrum of builders, architects, product manufacturers, regulators and environmental experts. The work of the consensus committee was administered by the NAHB Research Center, an ANSI Accredited Standards Developer.

The consensus committee deliberated the content of the standard for more than a year, held four public hearings and evaluated over 3,000 public comments in the development of the standard.

ABOUT NAHB: The National Association of Home Builders is a Washington, D.C.-based trade association representing more than 200,000 members involved in home building, remodeling, multifamily construction, property management, subcontracting, design, housing finance, building product manufacturing and other aspects of residential and light commercial construction. Known as "the voice of the housing industry," NAHB is affiliated with more than 800 state and local home builders associations around the country. NAHB's builder members will construct about 80 percent of the new housing units projected for 2009.

Speak Your Peace

The National Association of Home Builders is asking its members to call your U.S. Senator and ask for a "yes" vote on the new bailout bill with energy tax credits.

The revised financial rescue bill comes up for voting tonight in the Senate and includes a renewal of existing home energy tax credits that expired in 2007.

According to the new provision, the tax credits will be retroactive to January 2008 and will continue through 2009.

The National Association of Home Builders has been advocating for renewal of the existing home energy tax credits as it will provide incentives for home owners to remodel for increased energy efficiency.

For more information on the financial rescue bill and to obtain contact information for your Senator, visit Builder Link