Housing Energy Needs Met By Consumer-Oriented Programs The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) asserts that the best hopes for achieving more energy conservation in the home lie in voluntary, consumer-oriented, market-driven programs and technological advances that conserve energy without adding costs for new home buyers. “Homes built today are 100% more energy efficient than homes built in the 1970s because of two factors: voluntary programs that make it easy for builders to promote conservation to home buyers, and new housing-construction materials that help save on energy use,” 2001 NAHB President Bruce Smith, a home builder from Walnut Creek, California, said. “We hope President Bush will help new home buyers and homeowners by expanding these kinds of kinds of market- and technology-driven initiatives to encourage maximum energy efficiency at minimum costs.” Since the mid-1990s, consumers have bought more than 200,000 homes built under five NAHB-endorsed, voluntary energy-efficiency partnerships among builders, utilities and other groups: the Edison Electric Institute E Seal, Comfort Home, Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star, Johns Manville Performance Home and Alaska Craftsman programs. “These programs are helping consumers, builders, utilities, government agencies realize energy savings without adding costs that jeopardize new homeownership for families,” Smith said. According to Building Greener, Building Better: The Quiet Revolution, a booklet recently published by NAHB and the NAHB Research Center, homes have achieved better energy efficiency over the past 23 years due to advances in building materials, products and practices, including: - Increased insulation in walls and attics;
- Insulated exterior doors and windows; use of insulated doors increased from 44% in 1978 to 85.2% in 1999, while use of insulated steel doors increased from 35.9% to 87% in 1999;
- Foundation insulation, which reduces energy loss in one of the last remaining major “sinks” in the home and provides warmer, more comfortable floors;
- Appliances and plumbing fixtures that conserve water and require less energy for heating needs;
- High-efficiency refrigerators that conserve more energy than older models and rely on refrigerants that have much less impact on the ozone layer;
- Dishwashers that use 40% less energy and clothes washers that use 45% less than models manufactured in 1972; and
- Passive solar design that captures the sun’s rays to provide “free” heat.
- As part of the national debate on how best to accelerate energy conservation in the years to come, NAHB is also urging Congress to pass a proposed tax credit for energy-efficient residential housing, as well as a tax credit for projects that increase energy efficiency in existing homes. Building Greener, Building Better: The Quiet Revolution is available online.
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