commentNAHB Seeks ANSI Accreditation for Green Guidelines
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center is pursuing accreditation of its Model Green Home Building Guidelines from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The decision came following a unanimous recommendation from NAHB’s Green Building Subcommittee and a vote by the Construction Codes and Standards Committee.
NAHB launched the guidelines in January 2005 primarily as a resource for local and state homebuilder associations (HBAs) interested in sponsoring voluntary green building programs. “The guidelines were designed to move environmentally friendly homebuilding concepts further into the mainstream marketplace,” said Ray Tonjes, chair of the Green Building Subcommittee. “They have been proven to work well in voluntary, HBA-based programs because they are well-written, informative, and easy to follow. I believe that means they will work well as a standard, too.”
Ed Sutton, NAHB’s vice president of construction codes and standards, said that NAHB used ANSI protocols for developing a consensus-based document when it initially drafted the guidelines, because the organization anticipated that “developing a national standard was a distinct possibility, depending on the acceptance of the initial document.” Since then, the guidelines “have become a de facto standard—and an industry benchmark,” he said.
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Although the Research Center is already an ANSI-accredited standards-developing organization, it anticipates that accrediting the guidelines could take up to two years. The accreditation process involves discussions by a consensus body, the production of a draft document, a public comment and revision period, and the possibility of appeal. Thomas Kenney, vice president of contract research at the Research Center, said the process could result in modifications to the guidelines but that “how the guidelines might change, the scope of potential modifications, and the impact on stakeholders are impossible to predict.”
NAHB’s formal notice announcing this ANSI initiative listed several homebuilding-related industries as stakeholders but no organization representing the public’s environmental or social interests. When asked about this omission, Kenney replied that environmental organizations that participated in developing the guidelines, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and National Arbor Day Foundation, will be candidates for participating in the consensus committee that will usher the guidelines through the ANSI process.
Regarding the implications of this green initiative for its positions on other environmental concerns, such as wetlands protection and energy codes, NAHB explained that it sees a key difference between this process and other environmental issues. “Our Green Home Building Guidelines and this new ANSI standard are intended to promote voluntary green building in residential construction,” said NAHB. “Wetlands protection regulations and energy codes establish minimum regulatory or code requirements that every home, including entry-level housing, must comply with.”
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