Building a Green Home 101

Are you an ecoconscious homeowner? Is your builder aware of the materials and systems that can be incorporated into your new home to promote sustainability? Kermit, the frog of Sesame Street fame, once lamented, “It’s not easy being green,” but today’s new products make “going green” far easier than ever before. Our newly discovered enthusiasm for promoting resource sustainability means that Kermit no longer sticks out in the crowd because it seems that everyone is going green.

Ecoconsciousness and Sustainability
Ecoconsciousness is the awareness of the impact that our actions have on the earth’s natural resources and the term “going green” is frequently used to describe an action that is aimed at conserving those natural resources. The most commonly referenced green actions are those that relate directly to conserving resources that are required for the continuing survival of mankind, resources such as water, air, forests and energy sources to name a few.

Sustainability (another much used word in the ecoconscious community) when applied in an environmental context refers to meeting the needs of the present in such a way as to leave natural resources as unchanged as possible for future generations to use in meeting their own needs. Today’s green movement theorizes that the eventual depletion of our resources will occur if we fail to take steps to sustain them.

National Association of Home Builders’ Green Building Program
One of the groups leading the charge for environmental sustainability in the housing arena is the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Widely considered the voice of the housing industry, this organization has established a Green Building Program™ to assist its member builders in moving the practice of green construction from the sidelines of the eccentric few to the players in the center of the action.

Green building is defined by NAHB as the incorporation of “energy efficiency, water and resource conservation, sustainable or recycled products, and measures to protect indoor air quality” into the building process. To promote green building, NAHB provides builders with the tools they need to learn about and implement green building, everything from education, certification and a building standard construct to follow to green resource directories for green approved products. The second prong of NAHB’s Green Building Program is consumer-related. Specifically NAHB provides materials to assist homeowners in (1) understanding the advantages of green building (2) locating a certified green builder and (3) learning about financial incentives.

Consumers interested in going green should look for appropriately credentialed builders. These so-called green builders have achieved the Certified Green Professional designation (CGP) after completing a training program sponsored by NAHB and meeting ongoing continuing education requirements every two years. Green builders are trained to recognize and communicate to their buyers the benefits of lower energy costs relative to higher value and they are adept at applying practical strategies that adhere to green-building principals without driving up the cost of construction. The CGP designation applies to individual builders as opposed to companies. Consumers can locate a CGP credentialed builder or remodeler on the NAHB.org website at Find a Certified Green Professional (GP)™ , but be aware that the designation is not a warranty or guarantee of the builder’s work product.

Specifics of Green-building
NAHB describes a green home as one that “incorporates environmental considerations and resource efficiency into every step of the building and development process to minimize environmental impact. The design, construction, and operation of a home must focus on energy and water efficiency, resource efficient building design and materials, indoor environmental quality, and must take the home’s overall impact on the environment into account.”

Water Efficiency - Translated into consumer terms, green homes incorporate features that conserve water such as low-flow showerheads, faucets and toilets, ENERGY STAR dishwashers and washing machines and water-efficient systems as may be required for irrigation, rainwater collection, waste water treatment and the recirculation of hot water.

Resource Efficiency – Conservation design takes into consideration such things as the size of the home, the manner in which the home is oriented on its lot and the desired floor plan. For example, a green home is positioned to take advantage of natural daylight which in turn reduces the amount of energy required to meet lighting needs. Heat consumption is reduced by utilizing natural heating and cooling resources like wind and sun and appropriate landscaping to encourage maximum heat retention in the winter and cooling in summer. Another way to conserve resources within the home is to build with materials that can be rapidly renewed such as bamboo or by using materials composed of recycled content like certain concrete mixes, tiles and carpeting.

Indoor Air Quality Efficiency – Green homes use (1) whole house ventilation strategies and (2) spot ventilation strategies to promote the efficient maintenance of high quality indoor air. A heating, air conditioning and ventilation system (HVAC) that regulates the heating, cooling and the quality of the inside air in a green home is an example of the former. HVAC systems must be accurately sized to meet the particular needs of each home because units that are too big or too small are inefficient and waste resources. Kitchen and bathroom fans that bring fresh air in and expel stale or contaminated air to the outside are examples of spot ventilation. The quality of indoor air in green homes is further enhanced by eliminating the use of gas-releasing materials like medium density fiberboard and paints containing high volatile organic compounds during construction. By avoiding the use of such products in the first place, no energy is required to remove toxic gases from the inside air.

Enviroscaping – New homes usually include the cost of exterior landscaping and the construction of driveways. Green home builders know how to: preserve trees and vegetation that are native to the locality; select plants that are eco-friendly and climate-appropriate; and landscape with an eye toward conserving water, reducing or eliminating the need for pesticides and conserving energy. Paved, impermeable surfaces are omitted in favor of systems like gravel or block pavers that facilitate drainage.

National Green Building Standard™
One of the most exciting things that has come out of the green building movement is the National Green Building Standard, an objective and measurable model that defines for both the building industry and the consumer the principals of green building for single and multifamily homes, residential remodeling projects and site development initiatives. Developed by NAHB in collaboration with the International Code Council (ICC), a nationally recognized organization that develops construction codes for residential, commercial and government buildings, the Standard offers guidelines for the mainstream home builder who wishes to minimize the impact of his trade on the environment by utilizing green building practices. The Standard was approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) in January 2009, an important validation of the Standard’s comprehensiveness.

The Standard is comprised of 7 principles: (1) lot design, preparation, and development (2) resource efficiency (3) energy efficiency (4) indoor environmental quality (5) water efficiency (6) operation, maintenance and homeowner education and (7) global impact. Under each principle, there are guidelines for builders to follow. A rating system ascribes various points to each line by line item to obtain an overall point score for each principle. A certain number of minimum points is required for each principle to ensure a balanced, whole-system approach. For example, a builder may not submit extra points under principle 3, energy efficiency, to compensate for no points under principle 6, operation, maintenance and homeowner education. After all minimum points are attained under each principle, the green builder must achieve an additional 100 points by implementing any line item in any category. The total point score reflects the level of green achieved by a particular home: bronze, silver or gold. The table below outlines the various green building thresholds.

When trying to understand the National Green Building Standard and how it works to benefit green building, it is easy to loose sight of the fact that points are more than just paper numbers. Each point represents a single green building practice that has been incorporated into the construction, like energy-saving windows, for example.

The use of points makes the model measurable and verifiable for both builders and consumers. In fact, once a green project is completed, an NHBA trained verifier personally inspects the construction and reviews the required documentation amassed by the builder before assigning a level of “greenness” to the construction. The level of greenness is therefore a quantifiable assurance to buyers that the home they are purchasing is possessed of particular green attributes.

There are those who consider any construction antithetical to protecting the environment and our natural resources. After all, no matter the degree of greenness, each new home makes an impact on the environment by changing the face of the earth to some degree and by demanding the use of resources. As our population continues to expand, change is inevitable and housing will be required. At the very least, The National Green Building Standard is a positive step in the right direction. It raises the level of ecoconsciousness among builders and buyers by providing quantifiable measures of greenness and it is a well-intentioned, workable model for leaving as little a footprint on the environment as possible.

As consumers become more aware of sustainability issues and industry develops more efficient products, intelligent, green construction will expand in the future, slowly but surely replacing the old way of building things. Until the future arrives, some green is better than none so join the movement to conserve our natural resources, get to work on your own home and watch your neighbors turn green with envy.

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