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The National Green Building Standard™ Notification

February 9, 2007

In a continuing effort to advance the use of environmentally responsible technologies in residential construction, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the International Code Council (ICC) and the NAHB Research Center have initiated a process for the development of an ANSI standard for green home building construction practices. The entire process, from the formation of a consensus committee to public review and final ANSI approval, is expected to be completed by the end of 2008. The result will be a voluntary green home building standard that can be adopted by local green home building programs or local building departments as a conformance guide. After completion of the ANSI process, the standard will be promulgated as a joint publication between NAHB and the International Code Council (ICC).

The NAHB Research Center is an ANSI-accredited Standards Developer for American National Standards (ANS) and will serve as the secretariat for the standard development activities. The process will follow rules and procedures in accordance with ANSI’s requirements for openness, balance, consensus, and due process.

The new standard will build upon the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines developed by the NAHB Research Center in 2004 with participation from a Stakeholder Group of over 64 organizations representing various vested interests in residential construction in the United States. After an editorial review and update, the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines will be submitted as a working document for the consensus committee. The 2004 Edition of the Guidelines can be downloaded at www.nahbrc.org/greenguidelines/. Comments on the 2004 Edition should not be submitted at this time.

All information dedicated to the standard development process will be posted on an NAHB Research Center’s website at www.nahbrc.org/GBStandard. All questions related to the standard development process should be forwarded to standards@nahbrc.org.

This announcement opens an application process for membership in the consensus committee for the development of an ANSI Green Home Building Standard. Applications can be filled out and submitted electronically at www.nahbrc.org/GBStandard. Or, a PDF version of the application can be downloaded from the same website and returned to the NAHB Research Center (instructions are provided on the application.) Electronic submission is preferred. Applications must be received by the NAHB Research Center by March 10, 2007, in order to be considered for consensus committee membership.

Meetings of the consensus committee will be open to all interested parties. The Committee Chair may consider formation of task groups for working on specific issues or sections of the standard. These task groups can be formed from the committee members with open participation from other experts. Applicants that are not selected for the consensus committee will be considered for participation in task groups.

As a secretariat for the National Green Building Standard™ development process, the NAHB Research Center looks forward to working with all interested parties over the course of the next two years. This standard will provide a common benchmark for recognizing and rewarding green residential design, development, and construction practices in a manner that is transparent, verifiable, and meaningful to builders, product manufacturers, and consumers.