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New Residential Standards and Programs
Voluntary green building standards that apply to new residential buildings:

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™ was developed by the US Green Building Council and is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings. LEED is an independent, third-party certification system that works through committees representing a broad cross-section of the building industry.

The LEED rating systems suggest improvements in five areas — sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. Builders and owners choose which strategies to include. After the buildings are completed and reviewed by a third-party LEED expert, projects are awarded points in these categories. Depending on the number of points, a building can be certified at one of four levels: Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum.

Effective January 2007, the US Green Building Council will rebate certification fees for all buildings that achieve LEED Platinum in recognition of their contribution toward significant carbon dioxide emission reductions.

LEED programs for residential buildings include:

  • New Commercial Construction and Major Renovation
  • Core and Shell Development
  • Existing Building Operations and Maintenance 
  • Homes

Model Green Home Building Guidelines is a voluntary guide developed by the National Association of Home Builders. The guide is designed to be a tool kit for individual builders and local homebuilder associations interested in practicing or promoting green building.

National Green Building Standard was developed by the National Association of Home Builders and the International Code Council with the goal of creating an ANSI standard for the construction practices that affect green home building. The draft standard is expected to be completed by the end of 2008, and will provide a voluntary standard that local green home building programs or local building departments can adopt as a conformance guide.

Local and regional green homebuilder programs exist in more than 70 communities across the country. See Resources on this page for a complete listing published by the US Green Building Council. Examples include:

  • Austin Energy Green Building Rating Systems.
  • Built Green Colorado.
  • GreenPoint Rated program of Build it Green, California.
  • Built Green Washington.

 

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