A Guide to Developing Green Builder Programs

Produced for U.S. EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Office of Policy Development by NAHB Research Center, 400 Prince George’s Blvd., Upper Marlboro, MD 20774; 800/638-8556,

www.nahbrc.org. 190 pages on CD and in hard copy. Free as an Adobe Acrobat™ file from the Web site under “Builder Programs,” or $25 for hard copy and text file on CD-ROM.

A Guide to Developing Green Builder Programs, which should be required reading for anyone contemplating such a program. The

Guide is an extension of the Research Center’s work to help create a green builder program for Atlanta. It surveys six existing green builder programs—in Austin; Metro Denver; Central New Mexico; Kitsap County, Washington; Suburban Maryland; and Clark County, Washington—comparing and analyzing each to determine everything from nuts-and-bolts details about advertising budgets and organizational structure to specifics on the requirements and incentives in the program itself.

The first part of the

Guide lays out a step-by-step approach to creating a program, starting with an assessment of potential interest in the professional and consumer markets. This part includes generic information, such as the difference between performance-based and prescriptive approaches to the criteria. The bulk of the

Guide, however, is in the form of a “Green Builder Program Template,” a detailed listing and discussion of potential items for a checklist. Each strategy that a program might list, either as a requirement or as an elective, is dissected and analyzed. Comparison tables show whether or not the strategy is included in the existing programs, and summary recommendations are given as to whether and how strategies should be included. The Research Center is also working on software to make it even easier for local groups to utilize this template.

The appendices include profiles of each of the six programs, sample checklists, results of surveys done in preparation for the Atlanta program, and several other resources. This document was clearly intended to help groups avoid “reinventing the wheel" with each new program, and it does a great job.