According to a recent NAHB survey, single-family home builders, on average, use roughly 10 different green products or practices listed by the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) when building their homes.

The survey asked builders to respond if they commonly used any of 21 listed green products and practices recommended by the NGBS. Additionally, the survey asked if single-family home builders had their homes certified to a green standard by NGBS, LEED, ENERGYSTAR® and others. About 300 builders responded to the survey.

The results dictated that single-family builders use an average of 10.2 of the 21 listed green products or practices. Rounding out the top five practices are low-e windows, high efficiency HVAC systems, programmable thermostats, ENERGYSTAR® appliances and duct systems designed to minimize leakage.

Low-e windows are the most-used green product, used by 95 percent of single-family home builders. High efficiency HVAC systems are used by 92 percent of builders, followed by programmable thermostats at 88 percent. About 80 percent of single-family builders use ENERGYSTAR® appliances and 78 percent of builders use duct systems designed to minimize leakage. To view the full list, click here.

About 22 percent of single-family home builders always or almost always certify their homes to a green standard, while 48 percent of builders never do.

On average, the 22 percent of builders that do have their homes certified to a green standard use 11.9 of the 21 listed green products or practices.

The 48 percent of builders who never certify their homes to a green standard use approximately 9.1 of the 21 practices, suggesting that with few changes to their current practices, they might qualify for a green certification.

To learn more about the results of the NAHB survey, click here.