NAHBGreen continues to grow and expand its offerings to home builders. One of its most recent enhancements is the added capability of dual certification to the National Green Building Standard and the DOE’s Builders Challenge. The dual certification became available via the NAHBGreen online scoring tool at the end of June.

Spearheaded by the DOE, the Builders Challenge is a certification of a home’s energy efficiency. The program invites home builders across the U.S. to build a new generation of high-performance homes using proven innovations, and to work toward the ultimate goal of providing affordable, net-zero energy homes nationwide by 2030. For more information, visit www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/challenge/index.html.

DOE designed the Builders Challenge to work with existing energy and green building programs by providing a standardized metric for whole-house energy performance, thereby increasing consumer understanding and builder credibility. There are two different paths to meet the Builders Challenge. Qualifying homes must either receive a rating of 70 or better on the EnergySmart Home Scale “E-Scale” (based on the HERS Index), or build to a climate-appropriate Technology Information Package. In addition, a home can comply with Builders Challenge through a Challenge Partner Program—such as NAHBGreen—at a specified level.

All paths require third-party verification by a qualified professional and the Builders Challenge Quality Criteria (BCQC). The BCQC will be addressed in the NAHBGreen dual certification through the NAHBGreen Scoring Tool. A detailed explanation of required BCQC can be found on the Builders Challenge website.

The Builders Challenge provides an opportunity to build homes with increased energy efficiency, durability, and indoor air quality. Participating builders have access to technical and marketing resources provided through the program to help with successful building and marketing of these high performance homes. The first step is registering online (www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/challenge/participants/bcreateaccount.aspx) to become a Builders Challenge builder or verifier.