Green is popular and trendy on the minds of many these days of escalating energy costs and declining resources.  “Green” is definitely a buzz word in many industry sectors. 

Green Building in residential construction has taken on new meaning and it definitely does not mean a few brush strokes of green paint.  There are familiar jobs with a green twist and new “green jobs” beginning to surface in every industry. We ask the question, as the job market terminology changes in residential construction, “will students know what to look for?”  Are students considering lot design, preparation and development, resource efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, operation, maintenance and building owner education as areas of interest when thinking green jobs?  Residential construction has a long history of “green.”  Now, it has added “green standards" to its repertoire.  

NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines
Published in 2005, the voluntary Guidelines cover seven areas, including lot preparation and design, resource efficiency, energy efficiency, water efficiency and conservation, occupancy comfort and indoor environmental quality, and operation, maintenance and homeowner education. These Guidelines are the basis for the Green Scoring Tool, but were also written for local organizations to use as a foundation for their own Green Building program, for easy customization to reflect local geographic and climate conditions. . .

National Green Building Standard™
The ANSI approved ICC-700-2008 National Green Building Standard (NGBS) establishes a much-needed and nationally-recognizable standard definition of green building. The Standard includes single and multifamily homes, residential remodeling projects and site development projects while allowing for the flexibility required for regionally-appropriate best green practices. The Standard also introduces a new, fourth score – Emerald - to denote the pinnacle of achievement in residential green construction.

Become a Green Verifier
The NAHB Research Center is seeking interested and qualified individuals to become National Green Building Certification accredited verifiers. As the sole certifying body, the NAHB Research Center is responsible for training and accrediting eligible individuals to verify that homes across the country meet the criteria of the national green building certification. Individuals may work for larger organizations, but verifiers are accredited on an individual basis. 

To find additional information about the Guidelines and Standard visit: http://www.nahbgreen.org

Bronze – Silver – Gold – Emerald!
Emerald denotes the highest achievement in residential green construction. A builder, remodeler or developer must incorporate a minimum number of features in the following areas: energy, water, and resource efficiency, lot and site development, indoor environmental quality, and home owner education. The more points accrued, the higher the score. We want to produce “Emerald” students who are entrepreneurs and employees who have more analytical reasoning ability and a broader skill base. 

READ MORE: A Glance at the GREEN Job Market

READ MORE: Building a Greener Workforce From the Inside Out