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As Green Building continues to gain momentum, the National Association of Home Builders recognized a need to establish a new program to meet the varying needs of builders and new home buyers nationwide. In addition to several national programs offering guidelines for building homes that conserve our natural resources, offer low maintenance and a healthy living environment, more than 20 local home builder associations have established independent local programs. The result is that these many different programs can become confusing for consumers and builders alike.

Also important is that fact that there is no one prescription for building green homes that meets the needs of buyers and builders universally. Effective details and practices may change from one community to another to get the best results.

The new National Green Building Program is designed to provide a flexible template for voluntary green building that is adaptable on a market-by-market basis.

"With a national program, home buyers can be assured that their home is truly green, whether they live in Seattle or Savannah, in a condo or a ranch house, and whether they're renovating or buying new," said NAHB President Brian Catalde.

"It's also the next logical step for NAHB as a leader in the green building movement," he said. 'Our members have built nearly 100,000 green homes in voluntary programs launched by home builders associations all over the country. Each of these homes is unique and responds to local geography, climate and consumer preferences. With an affordable national program, we will provide home buyers with green homes even where there is no local program in place."

The new program comes about as a cooperative effort between the NAHB Research Center, the International Code Council, and the American National Standards Institute. Based on the existing Model Green Home Building Guidelines, the new program allows for design based on the specifics of the building site, energy efficiency, use of natural resources, impact on the local environment, indoor living environment and other sustainability issues.

A National Green Building Program web site will provide resources and a registry of certified green builders and green homes. For more information, visit www.nahb.org.