New Home Green Building Construction Standards

A look into the futureof home construction

It’s available today

Working group

Matt Brazil HERS RaterSteve Vollstedt HERS Rater / CertifierJane Whitmire HERS Rater / Certifier

Stephen Onstad HERS RaterTeri Buhl HERS Rater

Bill Roth Builder / HERS RaterSteve Hale Builder / Program Director

What is Build Green NM• Operates under the Foundation for Living (Formerly

Foundation for Building) a 501 c 3 non profit• Provides 3rd party certification of High Performance Homes• We have certified about 4070 homes in the State of NM

• Local administration of program for the State of NM• Education for Builders, Homeowners and affiliated industries• Program for both New and Existing homes• Educate consumers to encourage wise purchasing decisions in

home buying and remodeling • Advocate for voluntary High Performance Standards

Program Base

2009 National Green Building Standard ICC - 700

2010 ASHRAE 62.2

2015 ICC IECC

2014 Revision Accomplishments• Narrowed the breadth of the program (eliminated

most of the subjective practices, hard to verify (timing) not relevant to the southwest)• Raised the Bar for Energy and Water• Developed a WERS Index for indoor water use• Focus on Ventilation in IAQ• Reduced the paperwork which reduced costs

associated with certification• More marketing and consumer friendly certificate

Green Building is a look into the future of codes…available todayBGNM Certified Gold Level HERS 49 before PV HERS 22 With PV WERS 58

Raise the Bar for Energy• Bronze LevelHERS 65

• Silver Level HERS 58

• Gold Level HERS 51-55 (based on CZ)

• Emerald Level 20% below Gold Level

Raise the Bar for Water EfficiencyPerformance Path

INDOOR WATER USE• NEW! WERS Index• Compares Water

Fixtures and Water using appliances

• Installed vs. Industry Baseline

• WERS maximum is 86

Indoor Water

Savings 35%

65

WERS

About Hot Water Waste• 1.5 gallons of water wasted to get Hot Water to fixture used as

baseline. If you beat the base line with a non recirculation system you will lower your WERS Index

But• If you have a recirculation System it must be “On Demand”

to get points for this practice. (Push button or motion sensor)• Timer No Points• Constant on No Points• Aquastat No Points• “Smart” controller No Points

IAQ

Tight Homes need proper ventilation• Whole building ventilation is Mandatory if the

home has 5 ACH 50 or less.• Bathroom fans to be vented and tested for 50

cfm intermittent or 20 cfm continuous Mandatory.• Radon Mitigation still Mandatory in Zone 1.• A short list of Builder Verified indoor materials

with low or no VOC or other hazardous components.

Sustainable Practices• Landscape components• Infill lot better defined• Wildlife habitat• Owner’s manual (1/2 of the material supplied by BGNM)• Builder provides location of all shutoffs and Maintenance

Requirements to get the most of their green home• Durability Practices• Use of recycled content, Certified wood products and

engineered products are given point value.• Universal Design practices• Home Size matters…

Home Size Matters• Larger homes lose points based on # of bedrooms

• Smaller homes Gain points based on # of Bedrooms

1 extra point is required for each 300 sq. ft. or fraction there of over benchmark home size. (enter as a negative)

Not intended as social engineering but to bring energy and other use (footprint) of home nearer to the average

# of Bedrooms 1 2 3 4 5

Size of Home 1000 1600 2200 2800 3400

Mandatory Practices

•Energy 9•Water 1• IAQ 11•Sustainability 4

Total 25

Threshold for different levelsBronze HERS 65 or lower and meet all mandatory practices. No Extra points requiredSilver • Energy; HERS Index of 58• Water; WERS Index of 80 or lower• Additional Points in any category

Gold• Energy; HERS Index based on Climate Zone 51 to 55• Water; WERS 75 or lower • Additional Points in any category

… and for Emerald

Think “Show Home” Indoors and out1. Renewable Energy production to lower HERS

Index 20% below Gold Level2. Water Catchment or reuse storage of at least

XXX Gallons3. Landscape to showcase appropriate Xeric

planting and irrigation even if not fully completed and evidence that turf is < 10% of landscape area.

4. Additional points in any category

Thank You!Steve HaleProgram Director; Build Green NMbgnm@comcast.net505-688-5335