Green Building Initiatives and Standards

North American Coalition on Green Building

The North American Coalition on Green Building is composed of over 30 organizations from various industries with a material interest in green building issues.  Meetings are held throughout the year to discuss pending legislation, new green building standards, and other issues.  NPCA sends a representative to each meeting and communicates relevant issues from these meetings with our membership.

Source: http://www.apawood.org/pdfs/unmanaged/CoalitionOnePager.pdf

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)

USGBC is a non-profit organization committed to expanding sustainable building practices.  USGBC is composed of more than 13,500 organizations from across the building industry that are working to advance structures that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy places to live and work.  Members include building owners and end-users, real estate developers, facility managers, architects, designers, engineers, general contractors, subcontractors, product and building system manufacturers, government agencies, and nonprofits.

The USGBC developed Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED), which  addresses all building types and emphasizes state-of-the-art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials and resources selection, and indoor environmental quality.  LEED is a practical rating tool for green building design and construction that provides immediate and measurable results for building owners and occupants. 

Source: http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=222

Green Building Initiative (GBI)

The GBI is a not for profit organization whose mission is to accelerate the adoption of building practices that result in energy efficient, healthier environmentally sustainable buildings by promoting credible and practical green building approaches for residential and commercial construction. The GBI formed a strategic partnership with the National Association of Home Builders and developed the Green Globes environmental assessment and rating tool in 2004.

Source: http://www.greenglobes.com/default.asp

ANSI-NAHBRC National Green Building Standard

In a continuing effort to advance the use of environmentally responsible technologies in residential construction, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the International Code Council (ICC) and the NAHB Research Center have developed an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard for green home building construction practices. ANSI approved the final green building standard in January 2009. Now there is an ANSI-accredited voluntary green home building standard that can be adopted by local green home building programs or local building departments as a conformance guide.

Source: http://www.nahbrc.org/technical/standards/greenbuilding.aspx