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.  

National Green Building Standard™
The National Association of Home Builders Research Center offers resources and tools to help builders, remodelers, home building associations, and homeowners learn how to build green, and discover the benefits of doing so. The Research Center also offers third-party certification based on the National Green Building Standard.

The ICC-700-2008 National Green Building Standard (NGBS), approved by the American National Standards Institute in January 2009, establishes a nationally-recognizable standard definition of green building for 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’s Bronze, Silver, Gold and Emerald levels each represent more stringent levels of achievement: For instance, Emerald-rated homes must be built to be at least 60 percent more energy-efficient than those conforming to the prevailing code.  

You can learn more about the standard at www.nahbgreen.org. 

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