The National Association of Homebuilders and the International Code Council have joined forces with building systems group ASHRAE for the third update of the National Green Building Standard, an ANSI-approved system for sustainable residential construction, development and remodeling.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), building science society ASHRAE and the International Code Council (ICC) announced an agreement on March 27 to jointly develop the 2015 edition of the ICC/ASHRAE 700 National Green Building Standard.

"ASHRAE's participation is welcome news for the home building industry," said NAHB Chairman Kevin Kelly. "This cements the position of the National Green Building Standard as the pre-eminent green standard for residential construction."

This is the third edition of the standard, and the first time that ASHRAE has partnered on its development. In 2007, NAHB and ICC convened a consensus committee of homebuilders, code officials, product manufacturers, building science and energy-efficiency specialists and government representatives to develop the standard. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) recognized it as the first green standard for residential construction, development and remodeling in 2009. Since then, the National Green Building Standard has helped define and advance sustainable home building, remodeling and development.

Now known as the ICC 700 National Green Building Standard (NGBS), it was updated in 2012 and again approved by ANSI. NGBS has been used to certify more than 32,000 single- and multi-family homes and residential developments for reaching its established benchmarks for energy, water and resource efficiency, indoor environmental quality, homeowner education and site development.

"As one of the nation's leading societies for building technology, ASHRAE brings years of experience and knowledge to the table, particularly in the areas of indoor environmental quality and energy efficiency," said ICC Board President Stephen Jones, CBO, and CEO Dominic Sims, CBO, in a joint statement. "ASHRAE's welcome involvement will help position the ICC/ASHRAE 700 National Green Building Standard even further ahead as the leading consensus standard in the industry."