A green home starts with a green lot.
One of the seven guiding principles of the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines is lot design, preparation and development. Resource-efficient site design and development practices help reduce environmental impact and improve the energy performance of new homes. For instance, saving trees, constructing onsite storm water retention/infiltration features, and orienting houses to maximize passive solar heating and cooling are basic processes used in the design and construction of green homes.
However, just as green home building is best considered using a whole-house approach, green land development and planning is often best done on a community or subdivision level. The benefits of green practices can be multipled exponentially when considered across multiple homes and communities.
Appendix A - Site Planning and Land Development (PDF) in the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines is designed to help planners make environmentally conscious and resource-efficient development decisions. Part 1 contains a checklist of steps a community planner can take when developing land used for housing. Part 2 of the Appendix contains additional information to explain and educate the user on the intent of the steps itemized in the checklist, how to implement the strategies, and additional resources.
Unlike the checklist in the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines, site land development and site planning items featured in Appendix A do not contain point values. However, a section on Green Subdivisions, which covers land planning and site use requirements, is included in the National Green Building Standard, which will be available in early 2008. |