Now that January is in the books, we’ve all gotten used to writing “2023,” and we are coming up on the middle of the first quarter, I wanted to take some time to reflect on 2022.
Despite lots of ongoing issues related to COVID and disruptions in the supply chain, our NGBS Green certification program had a strong year. While we certified fewer total units (homes + apartments), as shown in the chart below, we certified more buildings than the year before. Certified homes (represented in yellow) also grew year over year.
There was no change to the Top 7 states for overall certification volume, but Indiana gained in rank and South Carolina was a new addition to the Top 10 list. Arizona was bumped off the list completely with the addition of South Carolina.
Doing a deeper dive into our single-family and multifamily certification businesses, there were some striking changes for 2022. For SF homes, Virginia moved into the #1 spot and Puerto Rico debuted on the list at #2. Utah is also new to the Top 10, taking the #3 spot. For MF, North Carolina moved up into the #3 spot (from #4 the previous year) and Louisiana was a new contender on the list.
(Click here for the PDF of the 2022 NGBS Green “By the Numbers” summary.)
That sums up the basics of our certification numbers for the past year. But our “Behind the Scenes” numbers are always a fun way to see how the NGBS Green Team is spending its time.
As shown in the infographic below, we spent lots of time in meetings, webinars, and answering Verifier and client emails, and it’s exciting to see the fruit that our efforts yielded. Most notable is the fact that NGBS Green registrations were up 46% YOY, which ensures we will all be busy into 2023 and beyond.
The time spent helping with the development process for the 2024 National Green Building Standard was also significant last year. But again, it’s important work that will have significant, lasting effects on green home construction across the country and Home Innovation’s stringent, third-party certification. As an accredited standards development organization, Home Innovation serves as Secretariat for the ANSI development process for NGBS. You can follow along with (or participate in) the next steps in the development process on our website.
For the first time, we also summarized some recent additions to our certification program. Totals for the commercial space in residential buildings are notable for both what was certified and especially what was registered – more than half a million square feet of commercial space registered for future certification! And, starting with our first designation issued last January, we had 16 non-Verifier industry professionals recognized as NGBS Green PROs for their program expertise and experience.
So that’s a look at the year that was. We see lots of positive movement that positions us well for the rest of this year and beyond. Stay tuned! If you’re interested in more details on any of the stats you see here or any others related to NGBS Green Certification, get in touch and let me know.
The NGBS Green team and I look forward to continuing to grow and improve our NGBS Green offerings, and working toward a greener future for the buildings where we all live.
***