At the end of 2019, Home Innovation Research Labs reached and surpassed the 200,000th NGBS (National Green Building Standard) Green Certified home. The project that tipped the ticker over 200,000 was the Mission Lofts community in Riverside, Calif., which is made up of both apartments and townhomes. The project was built and developed by REALM, a new-comer to the NGBS Green program, and the NGBS Green Verifier was Moe Fakih of VCA Green in Orange, Calif.
This significant milestone provides a perfect opportunity to reflect on what a game-changer the NGBS rating system has been for both builders and consumers over its 10-year history. For builders, it has provided an accessible and practical national standard to define and measure green homes. It has created a rigorous yet affordable choice for third-party certification. And, because of the standard’s flexibility on the points a builder can select to adapt to local market needs, it has helped builders of all types and sizes provide comprehensively green homes to mainstream buyers across the country. With the introduction of the 2020 NGBS, the certification will also be opened to mixed use buildings of all sizes.
Due to the rigor of the NGBS, it has also provided consumers a level of confidence that they are getting an independently verified healthy and more comfortable home. All NGBS Green Certified homes, apartments, and participating builders and remodelers can be found on NGBS.com, Home Innovation Research Lab’s consumer-facing website. In the coming months, various high points of the journey to 200,000 NGBS Green Certified homes will be featured on the site, along with an overview of the new options available with the introduction of the 2020 standard.
NGBS Green has become a green certification program of choice for the residential construction industry. If you’re not currently building homes to be NGBS Green Certified, now is a perfect time to start—with 200,000-plus homes already certified, you won’t have the uncertainty of being the first to do it.
Whatever type of home you build and wherever you build it, NGBS Green has a certification for it. Find out more about the certification program and process by visiting HomeInnovation.com/NGBSGreen.
