New Energy Building Standards
January 5, 2010 Leave a comment
There continues to be a proliferation of green building initiatives nationwide. To date, there are 31 states, 112 cities and 12 federal agencies that have some sort of green building statutes.
The National Green Building Standard is the first and only agreed-upon standard that covers residential properties, including apartments, condos and the residential portions of mixed-use developments, as well as land development and remodeling and renovation. Until now, multifamily firms interested in sustainable development have had to follow guidelines designed for high-rise commercial properties or single-family homes
Multifamily developers who want to take their projects green now have a set of guidelines to refer to, with the recent approval of the National Green Building Standard by the American National Standards Institute. The ANSI endorsement, which lends credibility to the standard, was the last necessary hurdle in its development process.
Expected to be published this spring, the standard was crafted according to ANSI’s strict guidelines by the National Association of Home Builders and the International Code Council, with input from a consensus committee comprised of builders, architects, product manufacturers, regulators and environmental experts. The NAHB Research Center directed the work of the committee and provides certification for green projects.
A number of housing bills brought forward last year sought to tie federal requirements with green building. Among the federal proposals in 2008 were new green building requirements for Hope VI projects and more energy efficiency requirements for building codes in several HUD programs. The 2009 stimulus package has a large allocation to green, and requires that states receiving grant money must update their building energy codes. This year, comprehensive energy and climate change bills are expected to be brought to Congress.
Additional Links
Energy Star Programs and Products
US Green Building Council
http://www.usgbc.org/displaypage.aspx?cmspageid=147#projects
RESNET – Residential Energy Services Network
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