The National Association of Homebuilders is running a trial of a new, verifiable, green residential construction certification program built around the association's Green Building Guidelines. The test, which will run through the end of the year, is part of a drive to establish standards, but it is also spurring acceptance of green construction materials and methods nationwide.
The trial is focused on projects in a dozen locations around the country. The association will test the methodology in diverse regions and climates, from the Pacific Northwest to the urban Northeast to the Gulf Coast. Participants say the pilot program is helping builders and designers introduce new details and technology to a broad audience.
Prisca Weems, principle of FutureProof of New Orleans, a sustainable design consultancy, says the local pilot features a four-plex condominium. The structure incorporates many innovative details to stop the transfer of heat, as well as a drainage plane to transfer moisture away from the building.
The developer, Green Coast Enterprises LLC, New Orleans, says the project is the first of many energy-efficient, storm-resistant homes it plans to construct in the Gulf Coast area. It is a steel-panel, fully-connected structure that contains no wood or cellulose-based products. It has continuous exterior insulation and a finished floor elevation above the base flood level. It is designed to be termite, mold and wind-resistant, to be 40% more energy efficient than traditional designs, and to be affordably priced at $110 to $120 per square foot.
Reuben Teague, principal with Green Coast, says the establishment of certifiable standards will be key to communicating the effectiveness of the work to the public. "The residential market could benefit in many of the same ways as the commercial market from having an educated set of builders and consumers around rebuilding," Teague says, "but without a standard in place, it's difficult to explain to someone exactly what green building in a particular area would entail." The New Orleans home will also serve as a best-practices training tool for local contractors and building inspectors, he adds.
The National Association of Home Builders' guidelines have been available for local homebuilders associations and contractors since Jan. 2005, but no standardized certification system existed. In October, NAHB posted online certification methods, as well as the building guidelines and information on options for green construction methods and materials. It also named a dozen locations around the country where the pilot is being conducted.
"We are very confident the guidelines themselves produce green homes. Our members have already built about 100,000 green homes nationwide," says Calli Schmidt, NAHB's director of environmental communications. "We are taking the guidelines to the next logical step by establishing cost-effective verification. We are trying to make sure the green is authentic without being high priced. Green building will never catch on unless it is cost effective."
NAHB's pilot is being conducted in cities that may or may not already have an existing green building program. Projects testing verification methods may be under construction or already complete, Schmidt says. "Say they've got a pilot going in St. Louis and they already have a bunch of houses that have been built," she says. "They will then see if they can use the online certification tool."
The methods of verification may vary from location to location as well. For example, local utilities may perform verification in one city, independent consultants or city permitting offices in another. "The whole point is to determine which method is most efficient and cost-effective in each location," Schmidt says. NAHB will use the feedback from the pilot programs to ensure that the new national program is easy to understand, eases administrative burdens for local associations, is simple to navigate and integrates well into existing green building programs, Schmidt says.
The NAHB Research Center is administering the pilot programs, conducting field visits, and assisting participating associations and builders. To ensure the final program's adaptability, the organization selected projects in different regions and distinct climate areas, as well as different types of green building programs. Pilots are under way in California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.
"We at NAHB have always backed a regionally appropriate building, so a green home in New Orleans will be different from a green home in Montana, where weather, temperature and rainfall issues are different," Schmidt says. "However, once you determine what is appropriate for New Orleans, then you need someone to decide on a standard and get third-party verification of that standard."
After the testing period ends, the NAHB will establish the verification methods and set up a system to administer the program in each location. The launch is planned for Feb. 14, during the International Builders' Show in Orlando, Fla.
In New Orleans, Green Coast broke ground in mid-September on its four-plex condo. It is part of the city's fledgling Crescent City Green program, which was developed by the Home Builders Association of Greater New Orleans almost a year ago, says John Luther, the association's executive vice president. Hampton Barclay, Crescent City Green's director, is modeling the program after NAHB's green building guidelines, but has been struggling to adapt to local variations.
Both Luther and Barclay say they are excited about the NAHB effort and the local homebuilders association's participation.
"Throughout the country, most people [ask] what is green?" Luther notes. "The NAHB has done a remarkable job of coming up with some criteria that they want to be used nationwide. After the certification process is determined, most reasonable minds will say okay, if you apply some of these techniques, we are approaching what most people say is green."
The Gulf Coast is particularly fertile ground for the initiative, with the huge demand for housing to replace that damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and the resulting influx of new builders. "Since the storm, we've got lots of people running around saying lots of things are green or energy efficient, but are they, or are they not?" Luther asks. He says the NAHB program should help bring clarity to the situation because in addition to setting guidelines for certification, it will give builders and home owners a guide to local resources for materials, suppliers, climate-specific enhancements and even finance options for certain elements like energy efficiency ratings.
"This will make building green a reality," says Barclay. "As a city, I think it's very important that we can send a message through our program that we are rebuilding our city stronger, safer and greener than before."
"This gives us the chance to upgrade our housing stock by a factor of three, and it also provides an exciting opportunity to use housing as an education tool, because everyone is so focused on it," adds FutureProof of New Orleans' Weems.
Green Coast President Will Bradshaw says that the term "green" is synonymous with safety, durability, and healthier, more efficient, more affordable spaces. "If you are going to rebuild here, it is imperative to think about the best styles and processes that made a lot of these old buildings remain standing, the best processes and technologies of new building and how you can put those two together," he says.
Bradshaw notes, however that Green building programs have historically focused on education, which is necessary, but someone also needs to address the issue of liability risk for green to catch on. "One of the big problems for contractors is insurance and call-backs on new materials," he says. "Contractors don't want to use new materials because they aren't sure how they will function. If it's new, you've never seen how it works, and you don't know how to install it, you won't use, particularly in a market with a lot of work."
For many builders and buyers, developing a comfort level with new methods and materials is a challenge, says David McGee, vice president of PAR Custom Homes of New Orleans, general contractor for the Green Coast house. "I'm one of those builders who are not afraid of a learning curve," says McGee, who is currently building Green Coast's steel panel home, as well as four stick-builts, and five using SIPs (structurally insulated panels).
"SIP has been around about 40 years, but people have only recently started accepting that," McGee says. With the dearth of affordable housing in Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina, he says the state presents a unique opportunity not only for builders but also for the innovations of green building to win acceptance. "I think stick framing will be a thing of the past in the next few years," he says.
"In the history of this country, there have been few times where there was an opportunity to rebuild an entire city," Luther says. "The housing market has been relatively soft throughout the rest of the country. Once all of our ducks are lined up, we will literally be in the throes of a multi-year building effort in New Orleans. There is probably no other city in the country that will have that kind of market."
But the lessons will not be limited to the Gulf Coast, adds Teague. "We believe it's time for Americans to rethink the way that they live," he says. "Hurricane Katrina should be a wakeup call for everyone that the old way of building houses probably won't be able to withstand the climate changes we face with global warming."
