Comparing Green Building Certification Programs

A few weeks ago, I was asked to speak at the Arlington Chamber of Commerce about green building programs, and so I've spent some time recently thinking about and researching all the different green programs available to us in Northern Virginia. There are four programs that are the most well-known and often-used in Northern Virginia, and Arlington especially. In no particular order, they are:

 

• Home Innovation (formerly NAHB Research Center) NGBS homes
• LEED for Homes
• Earthcraft Va
• Arlington County Green Home Choice Program

 

Energy Star appliances are just one aspect
of Energy Star 3.0 certification.

Over my next few blogs, I'll talk a bit more about each of these programs, so this is just a quick overview to start us off.

 

All four programs rely on the EPA's Energy Star program in some way, shape or form. One ofArlington Designer Homes, all our homes are Energy Star certified, and it is certainly the easiest way to demonstrate that you have met a particular program's energy requirements. But because Energy Star certification is not required for Home Innovations certification, it gives the builder and homeowner more flexibility in using a variety of green features to meet certification requirements. And with all the new green building technologies available to us today, there are so many different ways to make a house more energy efficient!  All of the other programs require Energy Star certification to certify a home at a certain level. (I will talk more about Energy Star 3.0 in my next blog.)

the reasons that I like Home Innovation’s green rating system is that it allows you to certify a house without it being certified Energy Star 3.0. At

 

A solar water heater is another green feature that helps
improve energy efficiency and earn a home's green certification.

There are many more things that unite green certification programs than divide them. All of the programs mentioned above have categories covering different types of green features - you can refer to our blog from May 19^th, 2011, to review basic categories for the Home Innovations certification program (formerly NAHB Research Center). All of the programs rely on Energy Star in

some way. And most importantly, all these programs require strict third party certifications.

 

Our green rater always performs a blower
door test.

Arlington Designer Homes works with Kelly Ross from Kelly Green Raters to help us certify HERS energy rater to help us quantify total home energy use. Kelly uses sophisticated computer modeling to show how the house will perform and what energy savings we can anticipate over the life of our homes. Most of our homes come in with a HERS rating of close to 50. This means that we are constructing houses that are set to run on almost half as much energy as a conventionally built home.

our green homes. Together we rely on a

 

All the major green building certification programs share the same goal - to encourage builders and homeowners to choose more efficient, sustainable ways to live. Some of these choices are as easy as switching out a light bulb. Others are more complicated, like designing a whole house energy package. Green programs offer us a map to help guide us towards more environmentally friendly alternatives and greater savings, comfort and health for our customers.

The Truth About Trees

People often ask  ‘How can you consider your company green when you cut down trees?’ This always strikes me as a very narrow viewpoint. What we do as a green company is so much more than any one aspect of construction, and tree protection is a very big and nuanced issue. As a green company, we have to balance the needs of our customers, the neighbors, the community and the environment.  In planning for our projects, we take all these factors into consideration.

One of the first things we do when we start a project is develop a comprehensive tree plan. The first part of this plan is a tree survey. We identify all the trees on our property and adjacent properties that fall under our site plan. We identify the type of tree, assess the health of the tree, and desirability of having this tree on the site. Many people aren't even aware that we undertake these studies, but we do one for every single property, to help us protect not only our trees, but also our neighbors’ trees and our neighbors’ property. The studies help us determine which trees should be removed and why, which trees should be preserved and why, and which types of new trees should be planted.

With the house we are building at 2617 Nottingham Street in Arlington, one question I heard many times was "What can we do to save the trees?" In my opinion, the question should have been “Should we save these trees?”  In this case, the answer was most definitely no. Most, if not all, of the trees on the property that we cut down were infested with a contagious, deadly canker disease. The best thing we could have done for the other trees on this property and for the neighbors' trees was to remove them before they contaminated other trees.

In our tree survey, we were able to identify trees that pose a danger to other trees or personal property and remove them. As I drive or walk through Arlington, I see all sorts of trees and properties that would benefit from having an arborist take a look at them. Some are in simple need of having the English Ivy pulled off of them so they don’t choke to death. Others need more TLC, and yet others are dangerous or diseased and should be removed. Our tree survey helps us to identify and remove dangerous and infected trees.

We also look at the desirability and viability of a tree. Many of the trees that we have in our area are invasive non-native species. These species can threaten the health of native plants and animals. That is why as part of any green program you are encouraged to plant native species. We believe in removing invasive species as needed, and planting species that will help support native wildlife, that are disease and drought tolerant, and that have a proven track record in the area.

The viability or life span of a tree is something else that is taken into account when deciding which trees stay and which trees go. The simple fact is, trees have a certain life span and sometimes when you are at the end of it, the best thing we can do is replace an old dying tree with a tree that will be strong and healthy for years to come.

Most of the trees we removed from the property at 2617 Nottingham St. were either diseased, invasive, or at the end of their healthy lifespan. We took our arborist’s expert council and removed the less desirable trees so that we can start to implement our more comprehensive and appropriate tree plan. The tree plans we execute are based upon creating vibrant, lasting trees that will benefit native species along with the homeowners and neighborhood for many generations.

Some interesting and useful related links:

Virginia Tech Cooperative Extension Guide to Problem-Free and Native Trees for Virginia

Virginia Department of Natural Resources Native Plant Finder

Virginia Native Plant Society (has lists of nurseries)

The Green Building Certification Process

As you know, Arlington Designer Homes just recently certified another Gold house to the National Standard (see our last blog post). After certifying the first Gold NAHB Research Center house in Arlington, we have been lucky enough to work with our customers to certify the first NAHB Research center Gold home in Falls Church too. This is 1 of the 3 Gold homes by Arlington Designer Homes, Inc. and only the 5^th certified home in the entire state of Virginia (3 of which are by Arlington Designer Homes).

Certifying a home to the National Standard is a complicated process that involves three distinct stages. The first stage is the research and planning phase, the second stage is construction of the house and the third and final stage is the third party inspection and certification. All are critical and important aspects of not only certifying a house but also being able to prove that it performs to the highest standard that we expect from all the homes we build.

In the planning stage it is important to select appropriate materials that qualify for points in the categories that you will need to collect points in. The National Standard has 6 chapters. Chapters 1-4 deal with the now phased out National Guidelines. The National Standard chapters are:

            5- Lot design, preparation and development;

            6- Resource efficiency;

            7- Energy efficiency;

            8- Water efficiency;

            9- Indoor air quality;

            10- Operation, maintenance and building owner education.

Each chapter has a required number of points that you must achieve to be able to claim Bronze, Silver, Gold or Emerald. If you fall below a certification in any category, your whole project drops to that lowest certification. You must keep your eye on the goal throughout the entire project because it is a complicated process.

During construction you must make sure that all aspects of the design are being incorporated and document the whole process. We take pictures, get signatures, bills of lading, certifications from owners, arborists, supervisors, all sorts of things that we will be required to document in the final phase of the process. It is important to make sure that all parties involved in the project are aware of the end goals in the certification of the house. Each member of our team plays an important role in every aspect of the green certification process.

Blower door test during green building certification process

The final phase of the process is third party certifications. This entails calling in a HERS rater to do duct blower tests on our HVAC systems and a whole house air leakage test. As luck would have it our HERS rater is also our NAHB Research center certification expert as well. So my rater and I conduct extensive tests on the system to determine the HERS score and then we go even further, and get into more detail to analyze all the documentation we must provide to become certified.

To become NAHB Gold certified my rater and I spend hours going over every point of the house, from recycled content in the drywall to how our HVAC ducts are run. I show up with my files and am prepared to explain how every aspect of the house that I built performs to the standard I claim it does. While all aspects of this process are extremely important I think that this one is especially important. Many people say that they are building green, but can they prove it? That is what third party verification does. We have two third party entities, our HERS rater and NAHB Research center independent monitor, that oversee our green ratings. To me this is the mark of a true green builder, someone who is able to prove how their house performs and back up all of their claims with hard evidence.

Arlington Designer Homes is proud to be a part of the process and particularly proud to certify another Gold home in Northern Virginia.