ORLANDO, Florida, February 20, 2008 (ENS) - All homebuilders are invited to participate in the U.S. Energy Department's Builders Challenge, a voluntary national energy savings effort to build 220,000 high performance, energy efficient homes by 2012.
Energy Department Secretary Samuel Bodman announced the Challenge Thursday at the International Builders Show in Orlando, Florida where 92,000 building industry professionals from around the world convened to see the latest in building products, services and technologies.
A high performance home would use at least 30 percent less energy than a typical new home built to meet criteria of the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code, Bodman explained.
Thirty-eight homebuilders have already pledged to build an estimated total of 6,000 high performance homes.
The goal, Bodman said, is to build 1.3 million homes of this high standard by 2030, allowing Americans to save $1.7 billion in energy costs, or the carbon equivalent of taking 606,000 cars off the road annually.
"The Department of Energy's Builders Challenge aims to redefine the way homes across this nation produce and use energy," he said.
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This energy efficient home in Westminster, Colorado features south face glazing, solar panels on roof, self-powered solar air heater, and a computer to turn lights on and off, raise and lower shades by the weather. (Photo by John Avenson courtesy NREL) |
Homes account for 21 percent of the energy used in the United States every year, with an average annual utility bill of $1,767. Homebuyers are increasingly concerned about rising energy costs, and the impact of fossil fuels as a major source of greenhouse gases.
In order to meet Builders Challenge requirements, a high-performance home must score a 70 or lower on DOE's EnergySmart Home Scale, also called the E-Scale, which rates a home's energy performance, enabling homebuyers to make smart energy decisions when purchasing a home.
An E-Scale label would be placed on a home's electrical panel to identify it as a Department of Energy Builders Challenge home and to provide an understanding of the home's energy efficiency.
Typical homes built today average a score of 100 on this scale. The Builders Challenge aims for a rating of 70 or lower, making these homes 30 percent more energy efficient than a typical new home.
The ultimate goal, said Bodman, is to have all new homes rate a zero on this scale. Also called zero-energy homes, these homes produce at least as much energy as they consume.
The Energy Department is making "builder option packages," available for the Builders Challenge, which provide guidance for building high-performance homes specific to different climate zones. Meeting particular criteria outlined in these packages can also allow homeowners to qualify for a $2,000 federal tax credit enacted in section 1332 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
In order to qualify for this credit, each home must have a level of annual heating and cooling energy consumption at least 50 percent below the annual level of heating and cooling energy consumption of a comparable home.
The Builders Challenge will be easier to meet once the new National Green Building Standard is in place early this spring.
The National Association of Home Builders, NAHB, which held a Green Day at the show in Orlando, says the national standard will maintain the flexibility of green building practices while providing a common national benchmark for builders, remodelers and developers.
The National Green Building Standard is based on the three year old NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines, but enhanced to include residential remodeling, multifamily building, lot and site development - the first such standards in the country.
The standard is expected to be approved by the American National Standards Institute, ANSI, and published this spring, a panel of builders and those involved in the standards process told reporters in Orlando.
Miles Haber, a multifamily developer in Rockville, Maryland, said, "The National Green Building Standard will make it easier for builders to build green. Having this information available in an ANSI standard means that it's in the language that builders don't need a special consultant to understand."
The National Green Building Standard requires builders to include features in seven categories - energy, water and resource efficiency, lot and site development, indoor environmental quality, and homeowner education.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.
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