From smart thermostats and AI-driven energy management to digital twin simulations and automated fault detection, property technology, or PropTech, is no longer a futuristic add-on. It’s rapidly becoming essential infrastructure in the push to make buildings more sustainable, resilient, and livable. As energy efficiency requirements tighten in the building code and ESG accountability rises, the integration of PropTech is transforming not just how buildings operate, but how they are designed, certified, and valued.
While programs like NGBS Green define the framework for sustainable residential buildings, PropTech tools provide the means to achieve them with greater precision. This helps building owners and developers meet rigorous performance criteria more easily and reliably, opening a new market for data-driven design, construction, and long-term optimization.
Real-Time Data, Smarter Design
Green building certification has traditionally focused on predicting a building’s performance through design-phase strategies like energy modeling, which rely on inputs such as insulation levels and lighting choices. While that guidance remains essential, PropTech enables project teams and verifiers to test and refine those assumptions using real-world data. During construction, verifiers use diagnostic tools like blower door tests, duct leakage testing, thermal imaging, and moisture meters to confirm that the building envelope and systems, including air sealing, insulation, and HVAC, are properly installed and functioning as intended. Post-occupancy, smart meters and sensor-based technologies offer ongoing insights into energy and water use, indoor air quality, and occupant comfort. Though rarely used during construction, these tools are increasingly valuable in the operational phase to validate performance, optimize systems, and engage residents.
More importantly, today’s technologies can link performance monitoring directly to building operations. For example, indoor air quality (IAQ) sensors can automatically trigger increased ventilation when pollutant levels rise, maintaining healthier conditions without manual intervention. This real-time feedback loop delivers two key benefits: it verifies that systems are performing as designed, and it enables building owners to continuously optimize efficiency and indoor health. In this way, PropTech helps close the gap between green design and actual performance.
PropTech in Practice: Enhancing NGBS Green Certification
Several NGBS practices already align with these capabilities. In the Energy Efficiency Chapter, the 2020 NGBS includes points for smart lighting controls (705.2.1), whole-house energy consumption monitoring (706.1), smart appliances and connected systems (706.3), grid-interactive electric thermal storage systems (706.7), grid-connected battery storage (706.10), and smart ventilation systems that respond to occupancy or pollutant levels (706.12). These practices reward buildings that integrate responsive, connected systems to improve efficiency, flexibility, and occupant comfort.
Additional synergies with PropTech appear throughout the standard. In the Operations and Maintenance Chapter, Practice 1004 rewards ongoing performance tracking for energy and water consumption.
NGBS Green +SMART HOME
The NGBS Green +SMART HOME certification recognizes homes and multifamily buildings that integrate smart technologies to enhance energy efficiency, comfort, security, and performance transparency. This optional certification under the NGBS Green program rewards projects that go beyond traditional design features by incorporating intelligent systems, such as automated lighting and HVAC controls, smart thermostats, real-time energy monitoring, and connected appliances, that help both residents and property managers optimize building performance. By promoting interoperability, remote access, and user-friendly interfaces, projects are positioned to meet growing market demand for tech-enabled homes that support sustainability, wellness, and long-term value.
Looking Ahead: From Connectivity to Performance-Based Innovation
While the 2020 NGBS laid the groundwork for integrating connected building technologies, the forthcoming 2025 NGBS takes a more assertive step toward performance-based innovation. The draft standard, which will soon be submitted to ANSI for approval, introduces new practices that award points for using advanced technologies to monitor indoor air quality, track humidity and airborne pollutants in real time, and automatically adjust ventilation or humidity control systems in response to changing indoor conditions. These systems give residents instant insight into their home’s air quality via connected apps or in-home displays. This marks a significant evolution in the NGBS, moving beyond design intent to reward buildings that actively manage and optimize performance throughout their lifecycle — while also giving residents greater transparency into the health, comfort, and efficiency of their homes. Together, these practices show how the NGBS is evolving to support a more dynamic, data-informed approach to green building. As PropTech becomes more accessible, project teams can use these tools not only to earn certification points but to deliver buildings that perform better and adapt to their residents.
As the industry continues to embrace connected technologies, the time is now to leverage PropTech as a strategic tool, not just to earn NGBS Green or other green certifications, but to raise the bar for what sustainable, high-performance housing can achieve. With NGBS Green and PropTech working in tandem, the future of smarter, healthier homes is already within reach.
