The latest public comment period closed Feb. 4 and committee members sorted through more than 600 new comments before submitting their ballots. The standard is now in the mandatory 30-day appeals period.

The standard committee members represent all facets of the home building industry as well as government agencies and the environmental community.

It's a huge step for the green building movement, said panelists at a news conference during the International Builders’ Show in Orlando.

The first and only true consensus-based standard for residential green building will also be the first to be accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

Plans are to publish the standard in early May, pending ANSI review. The standard will be available later this year as an option on the online scoring tool at www.nahbgreen.org, part of the NAHB National Green Building Program.

The National Green Building Standard is based on the three-year-old NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines, but enhanced to include residential remodeling, multifamily building, and lot and site development — and is the first of its kind in the country. It also reflects advancements in requirements in the International Residential Code and other changes that serve as indications of the dynamic nature of green building.

Like the Guidelines that they are based on, the standard requires builders to include features in seven categories: energy, water and resource efficiency; lot and site development; indoor environmental quality and homeowner education. It also adds the higher Emerald Level to the Bronze, Silver and Gold certification levels for the Guidelines.

“The National Green Building Standard will make it easier for builders to build green. Having this information available in an ANSI standard means that it’s in the language that builders don’t need a special consultant to understand,” Miles Haber, a multifamily developer in Rockville, Md., told attendees at a press conference about the standard's progress during the International Builders' Show.

“NAHB’s decision to transform the existing guidelines into a standard, exposing its work to the rigors of the ANSI consensus process and peer review, is yet another testament to the firm commitment the association has taken to support inclusive green building,” said Michael Luzier, president of the NAHB Research Center. The Research Center is an accredited standards developer and was charged with shepherding the ANSI standard development process through a series of public hearings and comment periods.

Read a copy of the draft standard at the Research Center's Web site. Once the standard is published, it will be available for purchase at BuilderBooks.com. Advance orders for the publication will be availble through the BuilderBooks Web site in late April.