New building code a "win" for energy efficiency, potential loss for utilities
There's big energy-efficiency news on the standards front. Officials have approved an updated code to reduce energy waste in new homes, while overcoming attempts to roll back the current code's energy-saving measures, passing a proposal known as RE-188, which adds a new optional compliance pathway to the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC).
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| Credit: Richard Webb/Wikimedia Commons |
The update allows an energy rating index (ERI), such as the Home Energy Rating System (HERS), to meet the code's energy-saving goals instead of having to install many prescriptive energy-efficiency measures specified by the code. Approximately 40 percent of new homes are already rated using the HERS system.
"This is a huge win-win for new homeowners, builders, and for energy efficiency -- our cheapest, cleanest resource," said Meg Waltner, Natural Resources Defense Council's manager for building energy policy. "This is a cost-effective approach that will help cut utility costs for homeowners, give greater flexibility to homebuilders in complying with the code, and create a stronger market for even more efficient homes by giving home buyers an MPG-like rating to compare the homes side by side."
The update will provide a boon to homeowners through reduced energy bills and greater information on their home's efficiency. However, with the potential for increased customer energy savings comes the possibility that utility bottom lines will be hard hit with less revenue.
Many builders are expected to disclose the results of energy ratings to the home's occupants, providing another layer of verification, and creating a better market for homes whose energy efficiency surpasses the current building code. And, if Congress passes the SAVE Act, which would improve the accuracy of mortgage underwriting by factoring in energy costs, these ratings would enable borrowers to more easily qualify for mortgages to buy energy-efficient homes or to refinance and improve their homes' efficiency.
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