Tools like Green Globes™, the NAHB Standard and LEED^® for Homes
Help Create a Full Spectrum of Support

This year has been called a tipping point for green building. Most design and building professionals are now aware of the push toward (and significance of) a better built environment—and there have never been more tools available for guidance and support.

Between the new Green Globes interface and pending ANSI* standard, the National Association of Home Builders’ national green building program and its pending ANSI standard, mainstream practitioners have a growing spectrum of practical and affordable options for creating more sustainable structures. With this week’s launch of LEED for Homes, the US Green Building Council has also provided an additional tool for the movement’s upper echelon, which it defines as the top 25% of the market. Add to that initiatives underway by the National Institute of Building Sciences, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers and others, and it’s clear that the goal of sustainability is becoming a fully entrenched part of building design and construction.

It is our hope that the green building movement will one day be obsolete—because the only way for that to happen is for “green” building to become regular, everyday practice. If all buildings are one day created to be energy-efficient, healthy for occupants and have minimal environmental impact, they’ll cease to require a separate definition. They’ll become, quite simply, well-designed buildings.

Of course there will be bumps along the road to this utopia. As I’ve said numerous times in this forum, our concern now is that healthy competition among standards, rating systems and other green building tools be allowed to flourish. Fortunately, it’s a concern shared by an increasing number of governments. In his recent vetoes of three separate pieces of green building legislation (example attached), California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger rejected the idea that any one system should be mandated exclusively. Rather, he encouraged state agencies to “review all nationally recognized programs and glean from those programs, standards that promote greener construction, energy and water conservation, and reduce Green House Emissions.”

The bottom line is that competition is good for building owners because it drives improvements and lowers costs. It’s also the most direct route toward a better built environment—because it promotes the development of a full range of tools that meet the needs of every building size, type and budget.

*American National Standards Institute