The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recently announced it has approved the ICC 700-2012 National Green Building Standard (NGBS). This was the first Consensus Committee review and update of the NGBS since it was first published in 2009.

The NAHB Research Center served again as secretariat for the standard development process, which began in November 2010. The center was responsible for ensuring that voting members of the Consensus Committee represented a balance of stakeholders; that no single member or industry segment could exert undue influence over the process; that public input was sought and addressed; and that there was a thorough opportunity for appeal.

“While the ANSI process is sometimes tedious, our culture as an independent third party makes us ideally suited to the secretariat role,” said Michael Luzier, president and CEO of the NAHB Research Center. “It is its exacting elements that create the opportunity for the best, most informed decisions to be reached. Our obligation to the decision-making process was not only to yield consensus, but to have it culminate in the most thoughtful and comprehensive green building standard possible–ANSI’s approval of the 2012 NGBS validates that objective was met.”

There were 41 members of the 2012 NGBS Consensus Committee, which represented those that were directly affected by the NGBS provisions. In addition, seven task groups were formed to reflect the specific areas of technical expertise within the NGBS. In total, nearly 100 industry leaders and experts helped to shape the final version that was presented to ANSI.

For additional information, visit www.nahbrc.com/green.