National Policy Should Focus on Existing Homes

by Joel Barkman

When it comes to affecting real change I am a strong believer that it starts at the community level. Over the past several weeks I have discussed several ways that local lenders, real estate professionals, area businesses, and our local government could be getting involved to make homes more energy efficient.

The push toward more efficient buildings would create jobs, provide utility savings for property owners, and would potentially put more dollars back into the local economy. But for every local effort made there will inevitably be a national debate and for some reason lawmakers want to focus only on new homes.

As the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hears testimony on a suite of energy efficiency bills, including legislation to make residential housing more energy-efficient, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) last week urged lawmakers to take into account the differences in energy savings between the newest, highest-performing homes and older, less-efficient homes that comprise the vast majority of the nation's housing stock.

"With substantial amounts of energy lost in the nearly 130 million existing homes in the current stock, it is extremely important to develop an effective national energy policy that is not punitive to consumers who benefit from the most efficient new homes," Tony Crasi, a custom home builder from Akron, Ohio, told members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. "Rather, the policy must promote an effective retrofit plan for older, less-efficient housing that allows builders and remodelers to create the benefits of energy efficiency for all housing."

Testifying on behalf of NAHB on The Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act of 2011 (S. 1000), legislation designed to increase the use of energy efficiency technologies in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors of the economy, Crasi said that over the past two decades NAHB has played a leading role in developing, promoting and encouraging the growth of residential green and energy-efficient construction.

"The introduction of modern energy codes in the early 1990s has significantly improved the efficiency of new construction," he said. "In fact, the Energy Information Administration reports that homes built between 1991 and 2001 consumed 2.5 percent of total energy output in the U.S. By contrast, the 94.5 million older, existing homes consumed 18.4 percent of U.S. energy consumption, meaning the most inefficient housing is the most plentiful."

NAHB fully supports efforts to incentivize retrofitting the oldest, least-efficient housing and believes a national energy policy priority must include provisions that seek to save the energy lost in older homes and buildings.

"NAHB has consistently championed incentives for consumers to upgrade older housing, including ongoing support for incentives under Sections 25C and 25D of the Internal Revenue Code that provide federal tax credits for energy efficiency home improvement efforts and renewable energy products," said Crasi.

"Without meaningful incentives to retrofit the millions of less-efficient existing homes, true energy savings in the residential sector will never materialize," he added.

NAHB led the effort to create a National Green Building Standard for all single-family homes, apartments and condos in 2009, the only residential green construction standard approved by the American National Standards Institute, and continues to be a leader in promoting energy efficiency in all facets of the industry &emdash; single-family, multifamily, light commercial and remodeling.

With access to credit a major concern, coupled with foreclosure, appraisal and inventory issues, Crasi said that builders face stiff challenges trying to construct new homes in today's market, leaving fewer, more-efficient homes available for consumers.

"NAHB is concerned with the changing dynamics of energy requirements for new housing because it has the potential to make the newest, highest-performing loans unaffordable for the average family," said Crasi. "Rather, NAHB encourages a national policy that directs limited federal resources to the biggest source of energy loss in the real estate sector: older homes and buildings."

I believe that with every new home there are very simple options for energy efficient construction; I'd rather focus on the not-so-simple. How can we

From grass roots to national policies, when it comes to energy efficient homes &emdash; just "Ask a Builder".

As always 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.

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