Today, the National Institute of Building Sciences Sustainable Buildings Industry Council (SBIC) released Beyond Green™: Guidelines for High-Performance Homes—Meeting the Demand for Low-Energy, Resource-Efficient Homes. This new publication goes beyond green and instead uses a “whole building” approach to constructing homes.

Whole building design focuses on integrating and optimizing the important characteristics desired in a high-performance home, such as safety and security; resource efficiency; and indoor environmental quality, to assure the home meets the long-term needs of its occupants.

Previously published as the Green Building Guidelines (the fifth edition came out in 2007), this, the sixth edition of the Guidelines, features an expanded focus on high-performance building attributes, from functionality to resilience against natural hazards.

The Guidelines for High-Performance Homes are not a rating system and do not assign point values to specific building elements. Rather, these Guidelines describe important aspects that make a home green. Broken into twelve chapters, including: Green Principles; Codes and Standards; Community and Site Planning; Renewable Energy; The Building Enclosure; Energy-Efficient Equipment and Systems; Efficient Water Use; Indoor Environmental Quality; Materials; Hazard Resistance; Operation and Maintenance; and Special Considerations for Retrofits, the document contains a dozen case studies and more than 40 figures.

A true green home incorporates a design that takes into account the importance of all building elements, from an air-tight, well-insulated wall system to high-quality windows and doors. The purpose of the Guidelines is to encourage homebuilders and developers to equally consider all of these design aspects when constructing homes.

The Guidelines are available in print ($50.00/$40.00 for members), as a PDF ($37.50/$27.50 for members), and, for the first time, as a Kindle book ($40.00/$40.00 for members).

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About the National Institute of Building Sciences

The National Institute of Building Sciences, authorized by public law 93-383 in 1974, is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that brings together representatives of government, the professions, industry, labor and consumer interests to identify and resolve building process and facility performance problems. The Institute serves as an authoritative source of advice for both the private and public sectors with respect to the use of building science and technology.

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