The Real Deal
Practical solutions for sustainable building with Steve Easley
Use a HERS scale to show your home buyers why you are suggesting energy-efficient techniques and products for their new house.
As the EnergySmart Home Scale (above) shows, the existing home stock in America has a 130 HERS rating; a typical new home built to 2004 IECC is 100. Builders Challenge homes must come in at 70 or below.
for the Builders Challenge must achieve 70 or lower on the EnergySmart Home Scale (see the Builders Challenge stats, left). The Builders Challenge is a voluntary program designed to help builders diff erentiate their higher energy performing homes from homes built to code. Both the Energy Smart Scale and the
The Builders Challenge program will drive consumer demand for higher performing homes, which will benefit the industry as a whole.
higher performing, more durable home—and it also makes it easier to explain to buyers why a certain HVAC system or added insulation costs more.
Building to higher standards will result
use these certifi ed third-party raters to verify the energy performance via the HERS rating standards. Because of Resnet, builders and consumers have a reliable, nationally accepted way to gauge the energy performance potential of homes. This is a big deal because houses consume about 25% of the energy we use in this country. By using the E-Scale, builders can show home buyers the advantages of buying a
48 GreenBuilder September 2010
in fewer callbacks, increased profi tability, and happier customers, who will enjoy lower energy bills and a more comfortable house. Plus, these buyers may even qualify for lower mortgage rates through energy-effi cient mortgage programs.
Ambitious Goals The DOE wants every consumer to have the opportunity to buy a cost-neutral, net-zero energy home by 2030. Homes that qualify
Builders Challenge program will drive consumer demand for higher performing homes, which will benefi t the industry just as consumer demand fueled the need for a new breed of more fuel-effi cient vehicles. If you’re a builder, one the best ways to
transform and grow your business is to adopt the E-Scale rating for your homes. For more information visit:
www1.eere.
energy.gov/buildings/challenge GB
Steve Easley is owner of Steve Easley & Associates, a nationally recognized building science consultant that specializes in green and best practice building. Steve provides educational seminars on how to design and build high-performance homes Contact him at
steve@steveeasley.com
www.greenbuildermag.com
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