The 2025 National Green Building Standard ICC 700 (NGBS) is nearly here, and while it raises baseline expectations in a few targeted areas, it still preserves the defining trait that made it the leading residential green certification in the first place: flexibility. No other rating system offers as many voluntary pathways or as wide a spectrum of achievable performance levels. Teams can still pursue “just above code” efficiency or push toward deep decarbonization, without being locked into a blanket standard that ignores financial, design, or construction realities.
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