Construction Industry Trends

Programs and Tools to Get You Started with Green Building

Issue Table of Contents

It’s Good to Be Green Q&A with Doug Shroeder Programs and Tools to Get You Started with Green Building Construction Green Building Standards and Related Publications

One indicator of the rising importance of green building is the number of programs and tools that are designed to support it. Until recently, the charge for green home building was led most prominently by local organizations that sought to create rating systems that would allow consumers to better understand the greenness of the homes they were buying. These organizations also disperse helpful guidelines for builders who wish to offer homes and commercial buildings with green features.

One of the first of these was Austin Energy’s Green Building Program, launched in 1990. Since then, more than 20 local green rating programs have emerged. The NAHB Research Center (NAHBRC) provides a listing of many of these programs, along with a description of each program’s guidelines, in its Summary of Green Building Programs. You can also find an updated list of local programs on the NAHBRC’s website as well.

While these local programs have helped raise awareness of green home building, some of those in the industry have felt that the various standards might create confusion among consumers and builders. In addition, even with the proliferation of programs, there are still many parts of the United States without any type of green ratings program. That is why several organizations now are working toward developing national programs.

The most prominent of these is the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). While LEED is best known for its new commercial construction program, it is launching a similar program for homes, seeking to establish a nationally recognized rating system for green homes. The program, called LEED-H, will provide a green rating system for parts of the country that don’t already have local programs, and will work with local organizations where programs already do exist.

Another program that provides national ratings is ENERGY STAR, a government-backed organization that is familiar to consumers and builders alike. Launched in 1992 by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ENERGY STAR is designed to give businesses and consumers energy-efficient options. The ENERGY STAR label has become widely recognized by consumers — according to a recent survey by the organization, public awareness of ENERGY STAR has risen to 56 percent of U.S. households. Homes that receive the ENERGY STAR label have been independently verified to be at least 30 percent more energy efficient than homes built to the 1993 national Model Energy Code or 15 percent more efficient than the state energy code, whichever is more rigorous.

Along with rating systems, there are a number of other organizations focused on providing builders with the tools and information they need to build green. One of these is Building America, a private/public partnership sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy. The organization is dedicated to building partnerships between architects, engineers, builders, and other segments of the construction industry in order to produce homes that incorporate energy- and material-saving strategies from the very start of the building process.

The Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) also offers a number of tools for homebuilders, including Passive Solar Design Strategies: Guidelines for Home Building, a software package designed to help builders develop designs for homes that can leverage the sun for much of their energy needs. The software includes a climate-specific, user-friendly format and incorporates performance potential data. In addition, SBIC also provides members of the construction industry with seminars, and workshops and its manual, Green Building Guidelines: Meeting the Demand for Low-Energy, Resource-Efficient Homes. The manual is a brief, simple-to read, builder-friendly text that is applicable to homebuilders anywhere across the nation who are interested in exploring the notion of rethinking some of the design issues in their current product.

Other available tools include:

• ENERGY-10, an award-winning software tool for designing low-energy buildings that was developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Center for Buildings and Thermal Systems, SBIC, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Berkeley Solar Group. The program is designed to help architects and building designers quickly identify the most cost-effective, energy-saving measures for small commercial and residential buildings.
  
• The U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Energy Codes Program. The program is focused on developing national model energy codes that will help increase the likelihood of energy and cost savings in new construction and renovations to existing buildings. The organization distributes compliance tools that make it easier for construction professionals to comply with energy codes for both residential and commercial buildings.
  
• BEES (Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability) software, developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology Building and Fire Research Laboratory with support from the EPA Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program. The Windows-based decision support software helps designers, builders, and product manufacturers select cost-effective, environmentally preferable building products.

Of course, these resources are only the tip of the iceberg. There are many more available to help construction professionals embark on their journey toward becoming a green builder. A more comprehensive listing of these resources can be found in the Green Building Resource Directory, produced by the NAHBRC.