The National Green Building Standard™ (NGBS)
The National Green Building Standard™ (NGBS) is the only green building rating system for homes and apartments approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), as an American National Standard. The NGBS provides a blueprint for builders to follow for the design and construction of new and renovated single-family homes and multifamily apartment buildings.
A summary of National Green Building Standard™ (NGBS) Practices Specific to Windows and Door Products can be found here.
Full details and related information on the National Green Building Standard™ can be found on the Home Innovations Research Labs website here.
Home Innovation Research Labs NGBS Green Certified Product program – Home Innovation NGBS Green Certified™
Home Innovation Research Labs NGBS Green Certified Product program bridges the gap between manufacturers who produce NGBS-certified products and the builders/designers who want to use them in homes, multifamily buildings, and commercial retail spaces.
To be eligible for the NGBS Green Certified Products program, manufacturers must provide appropriate third-party evidence to Home Innovation Labs that their products meet the criteria for recognition in buildings seeking NGBS Green Certification.
NGBS Green Certified Products earn a certificate that identifies the specific NGBS section(s) where points for the product are available. This information facilitates designers' selection of products to be used and the approval of those points by Home Innovation-accredited green building verifiers.
Full details and related information on the Home Innovation NGBS Green Certified™ program
can be found on the Home Innovations Research Labs website here.
Home Innovation Research Labs NGBS Certification Program – NGBS Green™
NGBS Green™ certification goes well beyond saying a home is energy efficient; it provides independent, third-party verification that a home, building, or land development is designed and built to achieve high performance in six key areas: Site Design, Resource Efficiency, Water Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Building Operation & Maintenance.
Full details and related information on the Home Innovations Research Labs NGBS Green™ certification program be found on the Home Innovations Research Labs website here.
Page content source: Home Innovations Research Labs – www.homeinnovation.com
LEED Certification: MR Credit Checklist and Sourcing Reporting Summary
LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system that measures how environmentally responsible, resource-efficient, and healthy a building is across its lifecycle.
At WDMA, we aim to assist members with understanding the steps architects must achieve for building certification and how best manufactures of building products can certify their products to be specified for LEED projects.
Building products fall under the Materials and Resources (MR) credit category. Its purpose is to reduce the environmental impacts associated with building materials across their entire life cycle.
The MR credits focus on:
- Reducing material consumption and construction waste
- Selecting materials with lower life-cycle environmental impacts
- Supporting transparency in material sourcing and manufacturing
- Using recycled, reused, responsibly sourced, and low-impact materials
The key goals are to lower embodied carbon, reduce resource extraction, minimize landfill waste, and promote a circular economy.
All of this matters because the MR category addresses embodied environmental impacts, which can be equal or exceed operational impacts over a building’s lifetime.
WDMA has created a checklist and outline as a resource for members to use when focusing on their building products and their use in LEED certified buildings. The outline describes how credits are earned by a step-by-step process. Each step includes a table describing the credit-by-credit explanation of the Materials & Resources (MR) category, what each credit is, and how many points are earned. The MR Credit Checklist can be downloaded here.
WDMA has also developed a sample sourcing report summary to provide an overview of what information is required when collecting data on their products and what information is required. The Sample Sourcing Report Summary can be downloaded here.
For use by WDMA members, the steps below describe how credits are earned by a step-by-step process. Each step includes a table describing the credit-by-credit explanation of the Materials & Resources (MR) category, what each credit is, and how many points are earned. This applies to BD+C (Building Design & Construction) projects:
Typical credits withing the Materials and Resources credit are:
- Building Life-Cycle Impact Reduction: This rewards reuse of existing buildings or life-cycle assessment (LCA) showing reduced impacts.
- Building Product Disclosure and Optimization (BPDO): This encourages use of products with:
- Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)
- Responsible sourcing (e.g., FSC-certified wood)
- Material ingredient transparency (HPDs, Cradle to Cradle)
- Sourcing of Raw Material: This credits for recycled content, bio-based materials, reused materials, and certified wood.
- Material Ingredients: This rewards products with disclosed and optimized chemical ingredients.
- Construction and Demolition Waste Management: This promotes waste reduction through diversion, recycling, or reuse.
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