Office Closures - Christmas & New Years | |
Home Innovation Research Labs will be closed Wednesday, December 25TH, and Wednesday, January 1ST.
Staff vacations around this time of year may delay certification processing. If you need an NGBS Green certificate before the new year, materials must be submitted before noon on Friday, December 20TH.
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Wishing you a festive holiday with your friends and family. | |
Celebrating 600,000 NGBS Green Certified Homes | |
In late November, we proudly announced the certification of our 600,000th green home to the National Green Building Standard (NGBS). This achievement underscores the program's tremendous growth and momentum, with 2024 marking the first time that over 100,000 homes have been certified in a single year.
The 600,000th certified home is a renovation of a single-family residence in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, completed by Consilium Holdings, LLC. This remarkable home achieved NGBS Green Certification at the Emerald level, the Standard's highest tier, recognizing exceptional performance in energy efficiency, water conservation, and sustainability. It is the first home to receive the NGBS Green +RESILIENCE certification, highlighting its improved resilience and durability against natural disasters and further earned the first remodeled home to earn EPA WaterSense Certification for through Home Innovation. Rebekah Phomsopha of Oxalis Advisors, LLC served as the NGBS Green WRI Verifier for this project, ensuring it met the rigorous standards for both NGBS Green and WaterSense.
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NGBS Green Partners of Excellence | Nominate yourself, a client, or partner to be recognized as a 2024 NGBS Green Partner of Excellence. Submit your nomination here. | |
VERIFIERS NEEDED! Apply Today | |
Home Innovation Seeks New Verifier Candidates!
The NGBS Green certification program is seeking new Verifiers to support the program's continued growth. If you are a green building professional - especially in Louisiana, Maryland, Utah, and the City of Chicago - interested in offering NGBS Green verification services, learn more here.
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Fannie Mae Single-Family Green Bond Framework Expanded to Include Water Certification | |
Fannie Mae, in conjunction with Freddie Mac, is implementing several enhancements to its Single-Family Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) disclosures to include water efficiency certifications.
Water Efficiency loans are available for properties located in water-stressed/water-scarce areas and Water Certification by achieving a water use reduction of at least 30%. The list of eligible certifications includes the U.S. EPA WaterSense label.
Home Innovation is a WaterSense Home Certification Organization (HCO), with both Prescriptive and Performance paths based on selected NGBS practices. Under the Performance Path, a Water Rating Index (WRI) score of 64 or lower can earn the WaterSense label. Learn more at www.HomeInnovation.com/WaterSenseCertification.
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The federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program requires each state agency that allocates tax credits, generally called a housing finance agency, to have a Qualified Allocation Plan (QAP). The QAP sets out the state's eligibility priorities and criteria for awarding federal tax credits to housing properties. | |
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DELAWARE: The Delaware State Housing Authority (DSHA) released the draft 2025-2026 QAP. The draft currently awards three points for "Base" level green certifications, which include NGBS Green, Enterprise Green Communities, or LEED certifications. Two additional points are awarded for "Intermediate" level certifications (Passive House or DOE ZERH) when paired with the "Base" green certification. Three additional points may be earned for the "Advanced" category, which includes a section on "Resilient Construction" and lists practices from the following three certifications: NGBS Green, Enterprise Green Communities, and LEED. More information can be found in the Energy Conservation Measures Certification Document. We encourage NGBS Green Partners to submit public comments that praise DSHA for recognizing credible, third-party green programs and incentivizing advanced energy efficiency and resilient construction
DSHA is accepting public comments on the draft QAP through this comment form. The completed comment form must be emailed to: Tara@destatehousing.com
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GEORGIA: The Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) is accepting input for the 2026-2027 QAP through an outreach survey. This public input survey is open year-round for partners to submit feedback at any time. More information on the 2026-2027 QAP development timeline can be found here. | |
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MARYLAND: The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DCHD) accepted public comments on the second draft versions of the 2024 QAP and Multifamily Rental Financing Program Guide ("The Guide") through December 3RD.
Under the "Sustainability Features" section of the draft Guide, points are awarded as follows:
- 10 points - projects that achieve NGBS Green, Earthcraft, Enterprise Green Communities, Green Globes, or LEED certification
- 8 points - projects built to one of the rating systems that do not achieve certification. For this option, the DHCD guide says "The certifying entity's published scoring checklist and scorecard must be submitted and completed by the project architect or a qualified third party, and they must provide a statement explaining how the items listed on the checklist will be verified during construction."
- 1 to 6 points - based on prescriptive sustainability features
Note: Home Innovation's NGBS Green Scoring Tools are only authorized for purposes of certification. We ask that partners not use the scoring tool to demonstrate achievement of QAP criteria when NGBS Green certification is not being pursued. If you have any questions about this policy, please contact us.
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Dolce by Wyndham Hollywood | |
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Location: Hollywood, Fla.
Verifier: Kyle Abney, NGBS Green Master Verifier
Overview: The Dolce by Wyndham Hollywood is a four-story boutique hotel that offers guest luxurious finishings and Sabbath amenities, including a Sabbath elevator that stops at every floor, manual hotel keys, and a kosher restaurant and bar. The hotel is constructed for accessibility and efficiency and earned NGBS Green Certification at the Silver-level. Learn more.
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NGBS Green Product Spotlight | | |
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CertaSeal INT™ by CertainTeed
CertaSeal INT™ is a spray-applied, fast-drying, water-based premixed acrylic latex sealant intended for air sealing penetrations and joints in residential building envelope and stud/drywall interfaces. This sealant is intended to be spray-applied to fill any void, crack or penetration in a residential building envelope to help meet energy efficiency building codes.
CertaSeal INT™ is certified as a low-emission insulation product (901.11).
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NGBS Green Cookbooks. A Pathway to Success | |
See the full directory of all NGBS Green PROs featured on our website. | |
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Earn your NGBS Green PRO professional designation to validate your expertise in green design, construction, and building certification.
Successfully earning the NGBS Green PRO designation demonstrates advanced understanding of the ICC 700 National Green Building Standard and the NGBS Green certification program.
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Congratulations to our Latest NGBS Green PROs! | |
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Purdue University's Residential Construction Management - Green Construction & Sustainability students:
Noah Boersma | Aaron Brown | Rowan Conway | Amanda Deutsch | Robert Dong
Jeovanni Garcia | Eddie Hopwood | Aidan Houston | Amelia Johnston | Jack Knecht
Kalei Lidgard | John Link | Leo Murphy | Isaac Noel | Wesley Olthof | Jose Ramirez
Jim Rasche | Joshua Rauh | Bryce Rees | Paige Reitz | Addison Rismiller | Jayda Roberts Ethan Rosbury | Damian Sanchez | Ella Schnieders | Mauro Solares | Tommy Taylor Nicholas Thalls | Kai Tomcho | Ian Van Beek | Lola Wilson | Regan Winbun
Jakob Howard, Project Coordinator, Energy Diagnostics
Christopher Widmer, Construction Analyst, Iowa Finance Authority
Richard Walsh, Business Development Representative, Performance Point LLC
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Bringing NGBS Green PRO to the Classroom | |
We have established a streamlined and productive process for university instructors to track student activity via our learning management system. To find out more or offer NGBS Green PRO to a class or organization that you're involved with, contact Joanne. | |
Are you a Student Interested in Green Building? | |
Register with your ".edu" email address and use the discount code NGBSStudentEDU to reduce the course fee. | |
If you know of a program that may be of interest to our NGBS Green program partners, please let us know. | |
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Every other Tuesday, 2:00 PM ET | Join us here
Open Forum for questions, chatting, and whatever you need. Dates for 2025 Q1:
- Jan 7TH
- Jan 21ST
- Feb 4TH
- Feb 18TH
- Feb 25TH - Cancelled due to staff at NAHB's IBS in Las Vegas, NV
- Mar 4TH
- Mar 18TH
- Mar 25TH
| If you have a pressing issue that needs a more expedited response, please use our online Contact Us form. This reaches multiple Green Staff, ensuring a quick turn-around to your question or request. | |
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NGBS Green Program Feedback
Take this 1-minute survey to provide feedback on our delivery and customer service.
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This email serves as notification of important program and service updates, as well as relevant industry news and happenings. Home Innovation Research Labs sends email notifications periodically; we encourage recipients to add this email address (InsiderUpdate-noreply@HomeInnovation.com) to your approved senders list. You may unsubscribe from this notification service at any time using the link provided. Please be aware that this is the primary channel for conveying certification program changes, news, and updates to participants, and opting out of this notification service may result in missing critical developments and changes. Home Innovation Research Labs authorizes use of information contained within this email only by those participating in our NGBS Green Certification Program. Contact Us with any questions.
NGBS Green Certification is administered by Home Innovation Research Labs.
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