In Green-Building Study, NVR Lands at the Bottom

In this global-warming, energy-devouring, air-polluting era, home builders are getting graded on green -- and local builder NVR yesterday was ranked at the bottom of a new list.

Reston-based NVR, one of the few profitable home builders these days, ranks last among the nation's top 13 top publicly traded builders as far as building green homes and addressing environmental concerns, according to a study by Bethesda mutual fund company Calvert, which promotes socially responsible investing. KB Home of Los Angeles was rated No. 1.

Calvert based its findings on four factors: energy, building materials, land and water.

The study put NVR and three other builders in the "bottom rung" and concluded that they had "yet to recognize both the market opportunities and their community responsibilities related to developing forward looking environmental programs."

It did, however, acknowledge that some of the 13 companies it examined may not have publicly disclosed all their environmental achievements.

NVR, which routinely does not comment for publication, declined to comment yesterday.

Green building has become increasingly popular. The study, citing industry reports, said the green building industry was experiencing annual growth of up to 30 percent and that homeowners were willing to pay on average $18,500 more for "greener and cleaner" homes.

Stu Dalheim, director of shareholder advocacy for Calvert, said builders need to be more innovative by marketing green homes.

"I think we've seen a slowness in the home-building industry to innovate," he said. "Now is the time for home builders to innovate in order to differentiate themselves from their competitors."

The study, which aimed to guide investors and raise builder consciousness, said the industry has a long way to go before any company "can truly claim to be addressing the risks and opportunities inherent in the environmental and climate change dilemmas."

Still, it gave some builders far better grades than others, and said all 13 builders were constructing some "Energy Star" homes, which are at least 15 percent more efficient than the industry average.

Overall, after KB Home, D.R. Horton of Fort Worth and Pulte Homes of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., were tied at No. 2.

While KB "still has plenty room for improvement," the company "leads the pack because of its comprehensive approach to sustainability at the policy, program and performance level," Calvert said.

While criticizing NVR, it said the company nonetheless "has generally avoided major environmental and [occupational safety] violations, showing that even if they do not want to go above and beyond, they take their compliance responsibilities seriously."