Orlando — The new National Green Building Standard introduced by the National Association of Home Builders “will maintain the flexibility of green building practices while providing a common national benchmark for builders, remodelers and developers,” according to NAHB leaders.

The Washington, DC-based NAHB unveiled the new green building guidelines at a press conference during the IBS trade show here in February, hailing the standard as “another big step for the green building movement.”

The National Green Building Standard is expected to be approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and published by NAHB and the International Code Council (ICC) early this spring.

The standard is based on the three-year-old NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines, but enhanced to include residential remodeling, multi-family building and lot and site development. It also reflects advancements in requirements in the International Residential Code and other changes that serve as indications of the dynamic nature of green building, according to association leaders.

The standard requires builders to include features in seven categories: energy, water and resource efficiency; lot and site development; indoor environmental quality and homeowner education.

“The National Green Building Standard will make it easier for builders to build green,” said Miles Haber, a multi-family developer in Rockville, MD.

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