Energy Retrofits and Consumer Education

by Joel Barkman

Energy retrofits and consumer education could shape the future of green housing, according to veterans of the industry attending the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) National Green Building Conference & Expo last month, provided that there are enough educated consumers around who recognize the advantages of owning an energy-efficient home.

In his opening keynote address, Mike Holmes, host of "Holmes on Homes" and "Home Inspection" on HGTV, suggested green home building represents a movement to build homes the way they should be built, which he demonstrates regularly on television by taking existing homes apart to get to the source of serious problems reported by the owners.

The sentiment seems to be shared by builders from all over the country. The revision of the National Green Building Standard now underway is putting more emphasis on retrofitting the existing housing stock, said Michael Chandler, a builder from Chapel Hill, N.C., who noted that certification for remodeling jobs was relegated to the footnotes when the standard was originally published.

Matt Belcher, a builder in St. Louis, said that "97.5% of all houses built 20 years ago or more" are not up to the performance levels they could attain if they were updated with today's top energy-saving products.

Most all builders believe that reinvesting in the existing housing stock should be a top priority.

My team and I consult hundreds of homeowners every year. Some just looking for advice and some invite us to work on their homes for additions, remodeling, and renovation projects.

My Remodeling Division Manager, Dennis Reitz, is trained and experienced in green and energy efficient construction. As part of any consultation he always surveys a home's existing structure and systems to determine what energy retrofits can or should be made. In many cases Dennis will even find a way to remodel a home's existing space instead of adding additional square footage.

I believe education is the key. Last year alone my team and I dedicated over 1000 hours toward community awareness for quality building practices, homeowner maintenance, safety and health in the home, environmental stewardship, energy efficiency, and green products and services.

N.C. builder, Mike Chandler, who shares my passion explained it quite adequately when he said, "For the general public, it's not only them coming to us; it's us going to them." In his local market, he said, there are houses that are only 10 years old "that desperately need energy upgrades." That's true for our area as well.

But "what will it take home owners to understand that they need a retrofit?" asked St. Louis builder, Matt Belcher. "Education is the key. Communities don't realize what the industry can do. Get with the city and let them know."

Education will help to demystify some of the products on the market today. Our community needs to realize that it's not about over-hyped, highly priced products. In many cases energy efficient and green retrofits are the combination of several inexpensive components into a single system - not a fancy wrapper, but foresight and training.

According to Holmes, "Everyday people should be buying green homes," he said. Buying a house that employs technologies that can pay the owner back with reduced operating costs "makes sense to people."

I've said it before, improving our homes is improving our neighborhoods &emdash; it takes the whole community.

I am particularly pleased that Fauquier County is climbing on board. On June 16 at the Warrenton Visitor Center, the Culpeper County Green Building Resource Center in partnership with Fauquier County Community Development will be conducting a free seminar. The seminar, being held at 7pm, will focus on the most effective methods of reducing your home's energy expenses.

I'd also like to thank our Fauquier County Building Official, David Cooper. He will be addressing members of the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association that same week at an event that Golden Rule Builders is sponsoring in Warrenton. Of course, one of the topics being the new stricter Energy Code that area inspectors will soon be enforcing.

With summer fast approaching I'm sure this won't be the last we hear about the cost of energy, but we're getting the word out. Because, energy efficient homes make for greener communities &emdash; just "Ask a Builder".

E-mail your questions or comments to joel@goldenrulebuilders.com or write to "Ask a Builder" at P.O. box 294, Catlett, VA 20119.

Barkman is past president of the Fauquier Chapter of The Northern Virginia Building Industry Association.

Read Joel's column weekly in the