Article from http://www.nahb.com/news_details.aspx?sectionID=1196&newsID=10453

March 18, 2010 – More than 5,000 home builders, remodelers, suppliers and product manufacturers have earned the Certified Green Professional (CGP) educational designation since it was introduced by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) in 2008.

From Seattle to Savannah – and everywhere in between – a home buyer is likely to find a CGP to help them make sensible decisions about resource efficiencies and environmental stewardship, said Bob Jones, chairman of NAHB. A home builder from Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Jones was among the first builders in the country to earn the CGP designation.

“The CGP’s rapid growth as the housing industry struggles to recover from a prolonged market downturn demonstrates our commitment to green building and meeting customers’ needs,” Jones said.

“These graduates are looking to the future of home building so they can better compete in the present,” he added. “Each graduate is taking advantage of their CGP designation to make better and stronger business decisions – and to help their customers make informed decisions, too.”

For Emily Green, a customer service representative for Jimmy Nash Homes in Lexington, Ky., the 24 hours of class work she completed to obtain her CGP makes her a better green advocate for her home buyers. “They are more and more interested in green, both to save money and to help preserve the environment,” she said.

David Suszko, a residential buildings solutions specialist for Dow Chemical in Houston, says that the CGP designation makes him a better salesman. When he’s explaining the distinctions to home builders or their customers regarding insulation choices, for instance, “I want to talk about all the options — why certain things are more cost effective, why other products are more energy efficient.”

Seven staff members at the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Waveland, Miss., are also among the recent graduates.  Last year, the group decided that all future projects would achieve at least Silver certification to the National Green Building Standard, and they have found that the knowledge they gained in the CGP course is invaluable in meeting this high standard. “It helps us build a higher performing, better quality, more durable house,” said Construction Manager Mark Scott.  “We want our families to be successful, and since energy costs are typically a home owner’s second highest monthly expenditure, it is important that these homes be as efficient as possible.”

“There are lots of reasons for home building professionals to obtain the CGP educational designation,” said Jones. “The most important is that working with a home builder or remodeler who has a CGP offers a measure of confidence to consumers.  They know they’re working with a professional who is committed to education and eager to help them make better, greener home buying decisions.”

There are CGPs in every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. North Carolina has the most graduates, with more than 500 statewide. Search for Certified Green Professionals nationwide by visiting www.nahb.org/designationsdirectory and entering “CGP” as a keyword.

New York City Axes Green Buildings Plan

Article from ENN and From: E.B. Solomont, Mother Nature Network
Published December 8, 2009 10:23 AM

ENN: Environmental News Network — Know Your Environment

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ENN Community

In theory, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s landmark plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by retrofitting leaky old buildings was a good idea. In the face of a global recession, and with a mandate for building owners to foot much of the bill, the owners didn’t agree.  After fierce criticism, the city is dropping a plan that would have required older buildings — those measuring 50,000 square feet or more —to perform energy audits and subsequent efficiency upgrades.

If passed, the mandate would have applied to roughly 22,000 buildings, or nearly half the city’s square footage, requiring owners to upgrade light bulbs, old boilers and leaky windows. The legislation also would have represented a big push in the green building movement, since most cities impose efficiency standards on new construction only. In the city, buildings contribute 80 percent of the city’s total carbon emissions, and Mayor Bloomberg is trying to lower emissions by 30 percent by 2030.

A major sticking point was cost, with owners required to pay for most of the upgrades. Officials estimated private investors would need to kick in $2.5 billion for building improvements since the city only had $16 million in federal stimulus funds to pay for such changes.

Article continues: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/climate-change/stories/nyc-nixes-green-buildings-plan

The concept of Green Building has been around since the time homes were first being built; this use of conserving material and resources has been a focus in home building for many years. Also building homes to hold heat in and cold out or the reverse has been always improving. But of course the different approaches used today are much different than the approaches used a hundred years ago.  Today’s society wants the modern technology and modern amenities, opposed to what the homes of the past could provide. So the blend of the older, more conservative methods and the use of modern technology, advanced products and advanced building techniques is the focus of today’s Green building.

The goal of creating a well-build green home is to end with a structurally sound, energy efficient, best air quality, more sustainable, water wise, inhabitant- healthy and practical home, with low impact to the environment.

Home construction inevitably impacts the environment and finding ways to reduce this impact is very important. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that residential and commercial buildings in the United States accounts for 39 percent of total energy use, 68 percent of total electrical use, 12 percent of water use and 38 percent of carbon dioxide emissions. Most Green Building certifications incorporate environmental and resource efficiency in every step from land development, construction and down to the operation of the home after it is being lived in.

Virtually every residential home or commercial building can incorporate practices or products to improve energy efficiency, resource efficiency and in many cases air quality and the overall health impact to the inhabitants. The National Association of Home Builders Green Building Program, The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Green Building Rating System or Green Globe GreenPoint System are all certification processes to insure steps are followed to assure a project is Green. Each one of these certification processes has different levels of certification. The more steps that are followed and implemented increase the points allowed, and these points determine what level of certification the final product receives.

But regardless of whether someone wants to achieve certification, just wants to participate in helping the environment or increasing energy efficiency, green building is an excellent process to follow and is becoming the way of new construction.

You can find more about these certification processes below. The NAHB program is growing very strong in the residential community, and LEED seems to be the preferred certification for commercial buildings.

More information on the NAHB’s Green Building Program at http://www.nahbgreen.org/

More information on Green Globes at http://www.greenglobe.com

More information for LEED at http:// www.usgbc.org/leed/

Or you can visit my own site called Green Building Ideas for many topics on Green Building.

Green Building provides some great benefits to the environment, the builder and definitely the home owner. But many are over using the word “Green” to help sell products; this is often called green washing. Be sure to check out what you are purchasing to be sure it meets the proper standards. A green home can be a better, more efficient home, if all of the proper steps are followed. Ask if your home has a certification and ask to see the documentation. If someone can not provide proper documentation it may just have some standard upgrades that any home may have. (And you may need copies of the documentation for insurance or energy discounts or to give to the new owner if you sell the home.)  Lower level certification is not very hard to achieve, just adding some Energy Star appliances and low-flow products may be enough. Study these certifications and you decide what kind of home you want and how you may want to help protect the environment. By just purchasing a home that is marketed as “green” does not mean it is up to the standards you may think.

Original article: What is Green Building and What is its Purpose? – written by Steve Feller on Factoidz

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

July 13, 2009

America.gov Launches “Greening the Empire State Building” Video

Highlighting the Energy-Saving Retrofit of America’s Most Iconic Building

July 13, 2009 – Washington, DC – The iconic Empire State Building is going green – retrofitting its existing structure with today’s most efficient technology to reduce the building’s energy consumption by 38-percent.  Through a series of upgrades – replacing windows, integrating smart light systems, upgrading heating and cooling systems, and more – the building seeks to become LEED certified Gold.  With a budget of $13.2 million resulting in annual energy savings of $4.4 million, the project will pay for itself in three years.

The key team behind the project includes the Rocky Mountain Institute, Clinton Climate Initiative, Jones Lang LaSalle, Johnson Controls, and the Empire State Building Company.  The team’s goal is to create and demonstrate a retrofit model for large multi-office buildings that can be applied throughout the world.

“Greening the Empire State Building” Video Available for International Distribution

America.gov, the U.S. Department of State’s public diplomacy website, has produced a video highlighting the Empire State Rebuilding project.  The short documentary (02:22), takes an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the retrofit project with examples of commonsense measures being taken to conserve energy.

The video features interviews with Anthony E. Malkin, the owner of the Empire State Building; project executives from Johnson Controls, Jones Lang LaSalle; and building tenant Skanska.  The video also includes an interview with Scot Horst, Executive Vice President of LEED at the U.S. Green Building Council.

>>The video is available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKnxDcIUfdY

I have created this article to share my best Green Factoidz with you. This is my favorite Green articles as of July 2009 that I have written. I hope you enjoy these Green articles and vote them up if you would like.

Going Green with Tankless Water Heaters

So has all the new water heaters on the market have you confused on which one is the best? Which one is the greenest and most efficient? Well don’t feel alone, there happens to be a lot of options today but the proper application is what needs to be looked at.

http://factoidz.com/going-green-with-tankless-water-heaters/

Building Your Green Home: Does Size Really Matter?

Yes, the size of your home does make a difference when building a green home or a green project and want to be certified. There are many factors play into the square footage and design of your home. Also with the down turn in the economy I think smaller homes will be the new norm.

http://factoidz.com/building-your-green-home-does-size-really-matter/

How “Green Products” can be Misleading

The Going Green phase in home construction has many people confused about what Green really means. Many are struggling to find the balance between renewable, sustainable, recyclable, LEED, NAHB Green Program, Energy Star, energy efficient, net zero, carbon foot print, certified products, low VOC, air quality and a myriad of other green words.

http://factoidz.com/how-green-products-can-be-misleading/

Which grocery bag is really green?

You go to the store several times a week and you are usually asked “paper or plastic” or you may even be the devout green, environmentally conscious person that brings your own, but what is the greenest grocery bag solution? Well depending on who is talking they all are green, but let’s look a little deeper and just see who is the greenest of them all.

http://factoidz.com/which-grocery-bag-is-really-green/

Green Building Should Incorporate Energy Efficiency

Many people don’t totally understand the green building and the purpose it has. The phrase green building misses some of the key points that every home owner should be thinking of. When the word green is used most think of saving trees or natural resources. This is correct but the point many times missed in the saving natural resources.

http://factoidz.com/green-building-should-incorporate-energy-efficiency/

Going Green with Reclaimed Wood

One product that is great for green building and is not new by any means is Reclaimed Wood. Many reclaimed products are showing up in some very prominent new green projects. Reclaimed wood is a form of recycling but with amazing beauty.

http://factoidz.com/going-green-with-reclaimed-wood/

Prefab Homes: the Next Green Building Idea

A movement is taking place in an old methodology. Prefab or modular homes seem to be taking a very popular spot light in the green arena. This is not the old modular homes that most people think of, where the home is a square box split in half and resemble a double wide trailer home. These new breed of modular homes are quite stylish and green friendly.

http://factoidz.com/prefab-homes-the-next-green-building-idea/

What is the difference between “sustainable” and “green?”

“What is the difference in Sustainable and Green?” Too many get caught up in trying to decipher the difference. The main thing to remember is that we should all try and be less wasteful and more conscious of how the products we use affect our environment.

http://factoidz.com/the-difference-in-sustainable-and-green/

Green choices for your hardwood flooring: understanding cork, bamboo, and reclaimed wood

Thinking of building a new home or remodeling? Wanting to find flooring products for your project? The choices are endless and flooring happens to be a product many people decide to go green with. Cork and Bamboo flooring is a great option in the renewable group.

http://factoidz.com/green-choices-for-your-hardwood-flooring-understanding-cork-bamboo-and-reclaimed-wood/

Saving water: You don’t have to “go green” to take part in saving water

The whole green focus was established to help conserve our natural resources, by reducing the use or waste of any natural resource. One natural resource that the whole world needs to help reducing, even if going green is not a consideration, is our water supply.

http://factoidz.com/we-dont-have-to-be-green-to-save-water/

Green Washing: what it is and how to watch for it

Green Building is much more than just following a checklist. Green Building or sustainable building is composed of certain elements like design, energy savings, water savings, health and managing resources used in the home.

http://factoidz.com/what-is-green-washing-and-how-to-watch-for-it/

I hope you enjoyed these articles. I write for this blog called Green Building Ideas. I get my material from working in the home construction industry and my learning on how to incorporate Green into our every day lives. I am a Certified Green Professional (NAHB Green Building Program) and help builders with building green.

Factoidz is an article based forum. If you would like to get your information out and earn some additional income from Google Adsense then join here. http://factoidz.com/create-account.php?refer=8D3892

Factoidz is free and provides great traffic for your articles.

The Green Building process is becoming more talked about everyday, whether new construction or remodeling, home owners want to have a more efficient and environmentally friendly home. But Green Building is much more than just following a checklist. Green Building or sustainable building is composed of certain elements like design, energy savings, water savings, health and managing resources used in the home. The check lists are the guidelines to help determine what areas need to be addressed in the process and what steps have to be taken. But these check lists and the points often fuel the factor of Green Washing.

Green Washing is when a manufacturer, supplier or builder intentionally or unintentionally makes false, misleading or exaggerated claims about their products and the environmental benefits they may have.

A great example of Green Washing is when a builder puts a few energy efficient products in a home and claims it is a green home. Another example may be when a manufacturer uses recycled products and makes a green claim. Check the percentage of recycled material in the product before believing every green claim. Also check to see if a company is truly watching out for the environment in their everyday practices and not harming the environment with some other product they may produce.

A couple easy phrases may just be the tip to help with determining whether a product is green.

First don’t fall for the phrase, “My product is LEED or NAHB Green Certified”, USGBC’s LEED or NAHB Green Build Programs do not certify products, they only provide guidelines on what a product have to achieve to fit within the guidelines.

Also watch for generic phrases like “This product uses the newest Eco-friendly or environmentally save technology”, but has no documentation to back it up.

Beware of the maintenance free claims. Just because a product may be maintenance free does not make it green.

Always asks for documentation to substantiate the green claim. If a company can not provide you proper information you are asking for, it is an immediate red flag that they probably don’t really understand what makes a product green.

Labels and certification documents are always the best way to determine whether a company or a product can back up the Green claim. Energy Star, FSC, SFI or WaterSense are just a few of labels you can look for. These are considered third party certification that has already determined that a product fits within proper criteria. You can find a more extensive list of these third party certifications at Green Building Ideas/resources.

Some products may be very green and may not hold a third party certification. Consider these labels as a filter to help but don’t always disregard a green claim just because it does not have a third party label on it. Do your research and look into the company or product before making a decision.

Finding products and substantiating claims may be the longest and most time consuming process in any project, unless you find a builder that has a strong background in the green building process. Ask your builder if he or she is a NAHB Certified Green Professional or AP LEED certified. Then ask to provide you with examples of a green project they have completed. This will make your, new construction or remodeling, green project a more satisfying experience.

Going Green has become a very popular topic the last few years. If you search the word Green on Google it will come up with 862 million results and growing. The Green Building topic has become just as prevalent with even more interest. If you search Green Building on Google it will come up with 870 million results. But whether you plan on building a new home or remodel, green will come up in some form.

The whole green focus was established to help conserve our natural resources, by reducing the use or waste of any natural resource. One natural resource that the whole world needs to help reducing, even if going green is not a consideration, is our water supply. Urban water usage is expected to grow by nearly 40% by the year 2020 increasing the need to help reduce what water is wasted. There are a lot of ways to help save water from just adding low flow fixtures to reusing gray water. Some may be extreme for some households, so I want to touch on ways anyone can save water.

First we need to see where our water is going. Here is a short list of the averages from DrinkTap.org

Water Use Statistics

Daily indoor per capita water use in the typical single family home is 69.3 gallons. Here is how it breaks down:

By installing more efficient water fixtures and regularly checking for leaks, households can reduce daily per capita water use by about 35% to about 45.2 gallons per day. These are very basic changes whether you are planning on going green or not.

Here’s how it breaks down for households using conservation measures:

If all U.S. households installed water-saving features, water use would decrease by 30 percent, saving an estimated 5.4 billion gallons per day. This would result in dollar-volume savings of $11.3 million per day or more than $4 billion per year.

If you review the chart you will see that toilets, showers and clothes washers are the biggest savings. Now do you really need to do a complete remodel to make these changes? NO. Changing out shower heads is a very simple project. The front loading washers are also very easy except the cost. Toilets are also not hard to change out, but some may want to hire a plumber to do this.

We can all take part in saving water and it does not have to be a huge undertaking.

The housing market is in the worst condition it has been in for decades. What is going to turn this back around? From subcontractors, general contractors, laborers, suppliers, manufacturing companies to real estate, every part of this industry is suffering. 100 year old companies going bankrupt and so far no end in site. But many believe the green movement in the housing industry may turn the market around.

Here is an article posted in EcoHome called Green Home Builders Facing New Economic Reality

Home Builders are moving to Green with hopes to capture a small piece of this growing business. This is helping some but will it really help the overall situation and get this housing market out of this terrible spot.

The future of residential building is uncertain for now, but most green pros say they are confident that once the market bottoms out, eco-friendly home building will help lead the industry out of its economic doldrums.

ResumeRabbit.com

The housing industry is in one of the most depressed times in many many years. With this down turn the focus to include green in a project may get pushed aside. Budgets are tight and many builders have the concept that green building costs more and in some cases it does. But it does not have to cost more and the suppliers in the building industry could help change the higher cost stigma.

This post is directed more to the building material supply industry. Many in the industry have not engaged the green concept and are quick to tell customers it cost more to discourage the customer from wanting to be green. Like I said in some cases it does cost more up front.

Look at an energy efficient window. It may have a higher up front cost but it does not cost more to install. But the higher cost is recouped from savings on the heating and cooling bill. Many products can be looked at this same way. What is the cost over two years, five years or ten years and then determine if it costs more.

The material suppliers could gain great benefits from engaging the green concept. But it takes more than just defining which products qualify in a green program. It takes learning the process and helping customers through the process. What differenciates different suppliers? Service! Some will say it is the product or the price. But service is what makes customers return. Learn the LEED or NAHB Green Program process to help your customer whether a contractor or a home owner through the process and you will be the person that will get the next green project from this customer.

Some of the ways to learn more about the green building process is:

• Studying the different guides.
• Reading from the internet.
• Joining Green committees
• Reading Green Building books
• Reading the many blogs about Green Building.

This list can go on and on but the key is the learn the whole process not just about the products. Many lumber suppliers get caught up in just the wood supplied but there is so must more. Recycled wood products, reclaimed wood and alternitives to wood are more of what a lumber supplier needs to know. How do the different products compare, what are each of the benefits and what are the cost differences. How can you truely sell a product if you don’t know what you are selling against? Digging in and learning the process is going to be a great benefit for any supplier in the economy of today.

Since March of 2004 the National Association of Home Builders has been working towards having their own NAHB National Green Building Program for certification. Different groups have debated, why should the NAHB devise their own program and not just use the well known U.S. Green Building Council LEED program. To some the LEEDs program is to stringent and expensive. One of the big factors that have builders frustrated is the fact that LEEDs only will allow Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) lumber. This limits the recourses available in many areas because not all lumber yards carry or are certified to supply FSC.

The certification process with FSC is getting more expensive. An article posted December 8, 2008, written by Craig Web, in the ProSales Magazine states “The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the key wood certification standard-setter in green construction, is doubling its accreditation administration fees for chain of custody (COC) certification as well as retaliating against certifying bodies that suggest other standard-setters’ rules are as good as FSC’s.”

How is this productive in getting more suppliers and builders embracing the whole “Green Building” concept. The FSC does not want to see Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) lumber get included in the LEEDs program. FSC dislikes this SFI option because it sees its standard as being better than the others. The Green Building Council plans to decide whether SFI can be included this spring.

By allowing more options and availability to the builders would help promote the use of certified lumber products into everyday projects.

This week I had a comment on this blog that I want to address. This comment came from Mark. “While there’s a lot of agreement that green building is a good idea, there’s not so much info on how to actually do it. Especially interesting to have perspective from the builder’s side. Perhaps you can provide insight for builders and clients on how to make that relationship work more profitably.”

Making products more available and having healthy competition between suppliers gets the cost of certified lumber more inline. Today many lumbers yards charge a high premium for certified lumber because of the added expense and the hassle to control the certification process. But by doubling the  accreditation administration fees is not helping answer Mark’s question. The builder needs to maintain a profit and in many surveys many end home owners are not willing to pay more than a 5% increase for a certified green home. So how can a builder provide a green home and still be able to get buyers if the home has a high premium?

The industry needs to allow more options to get leveled pricing and added support.

Allowing only one main entity to certify and dictate what can be a certified  green home limits the grow with in Green Building.

Can a product be Green and sustainable? This is a difficult question and it can be a yes or a no. Being green is one thing and being sustainable is another and finding the products that are both takes some research. First understanding the difference between green and sustainable may clarify a few points. Using products that are used in the home building industry have some good examples. Also understanding the life cycle of a products helps to determine whether the product can be both.
Take an energy efficient window as one example. It can be considered green if it reduces wasted energy in a home and fits the guidelines within the LEED Certified program. But if this window is manufactured in a way that it harms the environment or workers and can not be recycled it can not be sustainable. Following the lifecycle of this window can determine if it can be considered sustainable. Many window companies can provide this information to help with the life cycle.
Now look at a product that uses energy such as a home appliance. Go to an appliance store and notice the yellow energy guide sticker. The measurement determines whether the appliance will save energy over your existing appliance. Most new appliances will save over older models. It can be manufactured with recycled products in the safest environment and from products that will not harm the environment after it is turned into waste or recycled. It can be considered green. But the power that runs the appliance is not green such as coal powered electricity then the appliance is not sustainable. If the electricity comes from a clean source such as wind, solar or hydro then it can become sustainable.
Learning the life cycle of a product can be very interesting to some people. Many companies go to extreme measures to manufacture in an environmentally green way and there are companies that don’t.
Some composite decking products are excellent examples of a 100% recycled, green and sustainable product. It can be manufactured from old recycled wood products such as pallets and crates blended with recycled plastics such as milk containers or plastic bags. These recycled products are ground up and heated with a nature gas furnace. Then the heated wood and plastic is extruded through a die to form the shape of the final decking product. Some may say this is not green because it uses plastic, but it did not manufacture the plastic for the decking product it is eliminating the waste that would normally end up in a land fill and never biodegrade. This could be considered sustainable as long as there is waste that needs recycled. Some may debate this and say it can not be green.
One way to help decipher some of these debates is deciding if it is helping the environment, protecting every ones health, using clean energy sources and making our world a better place to live. Even if some one determines that it can not be classified as green. Creating a world with sustainable products will help provide for the future generations. So is lumber green and sustainable?

From Green Vs Sustainable

It is December 7 2008. This is my first post on Green Building Ideas. I am a sales manager in the building material industry. I also have been doing some blogging over the past year on a different topic. You can see one of my other blogs here Diabetic Help.
Over the past several years I have become more involved with the practices of green building and I finally decided to create a blog on green building. The phrase “Going Green” means something different to many people. Going green may mean recycling or conserving natural resources. But to someone else it may mean not cutting down trees. Even more don’t even understand the concept at all. As I have learned more about the LEED standards in the building industry and worked with people doing green building projects it is even more aparent that many just don’t get what “Going Green” is all about. When I see home owners driving their Hummer and building their multi million dollar vacation home, say “I want our building products to be green”, don’t understand what going green is about.
This site will be mostly under construction (Green of Course) most of December. I hope you will vistit often and see the new posts. My goal is to provide many resources to help with any kind of building project while offering green options. I will be providing many links to the green building industry. I will also provide some resources to find green building products and how they may compare.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope you come back often.