Friday, May 22nd, 2009
Builder’s BBQ’s at SHELLY’s
Stop by The Shelly’s Location listed below between 11:00AM and 1:00 PM on the date listed and meet the Manufacturer’s Representatives for the listed Products.
Have a BBQ Lunch while learning what’s new and exciting with these products at Shelly’s. Get hot food and cool drinks while being brought up to date on the latest product and installation information. Only at Shelly’s.
Thursday June 25th – Perkasie – Dow SIS and Energy Products
Thursday June 25 – Kimberton – DMC on Millwork- Interior and Exterior
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Thursday, May 21st, 2009
There seems to be no end to the buzz about the green movement and the product manufacturers trying to align themselves within the movement. The onslaught of marketing buzz can be confusing and irritating, especially as one may try to implement a green strategy into a business or home life. Within our industry green building has increasingly gained attention, and market share too. This seems like a strong tide, and many builders regionally have, with varying success, moved in to greening their businesses and product offerings.
Bux/Mont HBA was involved early in this movement. The NAHB asked HBA’s to develop and implement local programs, and so was born the Keystone Green Building Initiative. The purpose of KGBI was to develop guidelines for building green while also offering a verification process and certification system. These goals were met, but with the advent of the NAHB/ICC Green Building Standard, KGBI has shifted its focus and support to this national program. It is KGBI’s mission to promote green building in our HBA and help educate our membership on the content, methods, testing, and certification within the Green Building Standard. KGBI is currently reviewing the Standard, and comparing the findings with the NAHB’s older published product, the Model Green Home Building Guidelines.
Why do we need a standard to build green? Can’t we just adopt green practices? You can, but without a whole-house systems approach, the individual components may not achieve the desired end result. The standard is your guide to making sure that your project achieves your green building goals. The NAHB Guidelines and Standard are programs designed to make the finished project a qualified and measured success. Both programs have scales, or levels of achievement.
These programs are where the rubber hits the road for residential green building projects. As an over-simplified description, think of the older Guidelines as a kind of map, or atlas. There is an explanation of intent for the sections, and a target for achievement for each green component or practice applied to a project; a map, of sorts, to follow. The Standard, the newer publication, is more of a scale. The Standard is just that; a spelling out of the goals and the requirements for a level of achievement. The American National Standards Institute, or ANSI, worked with NAHB’s Research Center to develop the testing and verification methods needed to give this standard real credibility and widespread acceptance. What this means is that you will know what you need to do, how it will be tested, and what the test results will achieve within the Standard.
There are many reasons to apply the National Green Building Standard to your green project, but perhaps the best one is the biggest; credibility. We’ve all seen the “Certified Green” logo on a product or company website, but more and more often, the consumer is more critical of these labels. Who is doing the certifying? What is green about the product? Our customers are becoming better educated and engaged in greening their own life. Having a recognizable, verifiable, national program with credibility will set the builder using the Green Building Standard apart from those simply making “green” claims.
But where to start? For a green program or project to go smoothly a level of understanding of the certifications, standards, and forces at play is critical. There are several opportunities available within Bux/Mont HBA. KGBI is actively working to build awareness and understanding of the NAHB Green Building Standard and our local green building community. The meetings are open to all Bux/Mont HBA members and we encourage all who are interested to attend. See the website for the next meeting date. For those looking for a more comprehensive education on green building practice, NAHB University of Housing offers “Green Building for Building Professionals” as the core content for earning NAHB’s Ceritfied Green Professional, or “CGP” designation. This two day course is an in-depth look at the National Green Building Standard and its application in the field and within your business.
The one thing that will, above all else, help you succeed in you green building project is to involve a verifier (required for certification) and other well informed team members early in the design stage to integrate the proper techniques, products, and approaches. Retroactively applying the standard to see how your project “measured up” is an approach that will lead to certain disappointment. Those of us that have gone through these processes are hopeful for greater acceptance and understanding within our building community and our community at large, as sustainable building benefits all of us. Contact the Bux/Mont HBA office for more information on getting involved.
T.C. Feick
Sales and Estimating
Green and Sustainable Building Coordinator
USGBC LEED-AP, NAHB CGP
Shelly Enterprises-Perkasie
PO Box 175 / 1 S. 7th St.
Perkasie, Pa 18944
Ph 215 257-6842
Fax 215 257-8352
e-mail lfeick@shellys.cc
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