Multi Housing News August 2012 : Page 39
of mixed-use developments. The Nation-al Association of Home Builders (NAHB) collaborated with NMHC and the Inter-national Code Council fi ve years ago to create the National Green Building Stan-dard, which offers certifi cation for both single-family and multifamily projects as well as remodeling endeavors. Bronze, sil-ver, gold and emerald certifi cation levels rank six mandatory categories, including lot and site development. Projects must also meet certain thresholds for resource, energy and water effi ciency, as well as indoor environment quality and mainte-nance and operations standards. Addi-tionally, the checklist extends beyond the expanding its already signifi cant presence in the Eastern half of the U.S. More than a few rating programs oper-ate on a localized level. Given that Califor-nia is one of the most progressive states and one of the greenest—it holds the sec-ond place spot on the American Council for an Energy-Effi cient Economy’s lat-est State Energy Effi ciency Scorecard— Oakland-based Build It Green’s launch of the residential GreenPoint Rated label six years ago for properties in the Golden State was quite fi tting. As the non-profi t organization notes, qualifying for any le-gitimate green patch has a multifaceted impact in the multifamily sector. “Green “ On the green building certifi cation front, the U.S. is hardly alone in the world.” physical, requiring suffi cient building own-er education. While LEED has age and a high degree of visibility on its side, the Na-tional Green Building Standard has its own bragging rights, as it holds the distinction of being the only residential green building rating system to obtain the American Na-tional Standards Institute’s endorsement. Other names on the list of rating systems in the U.S. may not be as well-known, but they are no less important to the green building sphere. The Green Building Initia-tive touts its Green Globes system’s ease of use for novices to the certifi cation pro-cess. The program further distinguishes itself through its submissions process, which is rendered comparatively more cost-effective and expeditious through the use of a questionnaire-style online as-sessment tool and automated reporting. The Society of Environmentally Responsi-ble Facilities also offers certifi cation billed as economical, and the system is rapidly rating systems, like GreenPoint Rated, benefi t developers, building owners, resi-dents and the environment,” says Amy Dryden, senior project manager at Build It Green. “Eco-friendly units are more at-tractive to potential buyers and renters due to enhanced home comfort, healthier indoor air quality and savings on utilities. With rebates available [temporarily in cer-tain counties] to offset the cost of acquir-ing a green label, it’s a win-win for owners to build or remodel their multifamily prop-erties to meet green rating standards.” On the green building certifi cation front, the U.S. is hardly alone in the world. Es-tablished in the U.K. in 1990, the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method, most commonly known as BREEAM, was way ahead of the curve. The system, a benchmark for best practice in sustainable design, is now uti-lized in countries around the globe. Japan has the Comprehensive Assessment Sys-tem for Building Environmental Effi ciency (CASBEE) Certifi cation System. Singa-pore’s Building and Construction Author-ity’s Green Mark Scheme, backed by the country’s National Environment Agency, rates a building’s performance and envi-ronmental impact. The DGNB Certifi ca-tion program, kicked off by the German Sustainable Building Certifi cate in 2008, is among the newer systems and, in 2010, it went global with the release of an inter-national core system. The Green Building Council of Australia’s Green Star program has certifi ed in excess of 43 million square feet across the country, and properties to-taling an additional 86 million square feet are Green Star-registered. In the U.S., a mounting number of de-velopers and owners continue to seek sustainability seals from a range of certi-fying bodies, and it appears inevitable that such labels will be de rigueur in the not-too-distant future. Activity in the nation’s capital serves as an indicator of progress. Quite frequently, the federal government is the last to get on the bandwagon, but in the sustainable development arena, it has been making unexpected strides. As of December 2011, LEED initiatives were in place in 14 federal agencies and departments, according to USGBC. The U.S. Army, for example, has mandated that starting with fi scal year 2013, all newly con-structed Army family housing must achieve a minimum LEED Silver or Energy Star cer-tifi cation, or “be designed to achieve en-ergy consumption levels 45 percent below the baseline set by [the International Ener-gy Conservation Code] 2009.” Those Army housing projects that don’t meet LEED or Energy Star requirements are bound to qualify for certifi cation by any number of reputable agencies. MHN To comment on this story, e-mail Diana Mosher at dmosher@multi-housingnews.com www.multi-housingnews.com | August 2012 39
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