THE SAVE ACT COALITION
> Alliance to Save Energy (ASE)
> American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)
> Building Energy Efficient Codes Network (BEECN)
> E2 Environment Entrepreneurs > Earth Advantage Institute (EAI)
> EcoBroker
> Efficiency First
> Global Green USA®
> Green Builder® Coalition
> Institute for Market Transformation (IMT)
> International Code Council (ICC)
> Leading Builders of America (LBA)
> National Association of State Energy Offices (NASEO)
> Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
> Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnership (NEEP)
> The Residential Energy Services Network, Inc. (RESNET®)
> Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA)
> Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP)
> U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Source:
IMT.org
Principal + Interest +Taxes + Insurance + Energy = Complete Cost
2. Fair Lending. SAVE mandates that the net present value of monthly energy savings be added to the value of a home when calculating the debt-to-income ratio on a mortgage.
3. Feds First. SAVE Directs the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to establish procedures and timetables necessary to ensure that all federally owned and insured mortgages originated after January 2015 meet the requirements of the Act.
The Benefits
As shown in Illustration 2, implementing the SAVE Act will make energy-efficient homes affordable for consumers by allowing energy savings to be used to off set the added incremental cost of constructing an energy-efficient home. The SAVE Act will also ensure that the value of energy savings are consistently and accurately considered when determining the value of a home.
Another side benefit of implementing the SAVE Act will be the impact on the manufacturing industry overall. It should stimulate demand for a wide range of energy-efficient products; from high performance HVAC systems to innovative building materials. Over time, the growing inventory of energy-efficient homes will substantially reduce the amount of energy consumed by the built residential environment. Lower energy use means a stronger economy and a cleaner environment.
About the Author: Clayton Traylor is policy director for the Leading Builders of America. Reach him at
clayton.traylor@
leadingbuildersofamerica.org
Editor’s note: The SAVE Act is a relatively conservative approach to jump starting the housing market. It works much the same way energy-efficient mortgages (EEMs) have in the past, by rolling energy costs into mortgage eligibility. But where some might see additional consumer risk in this approach, LBA and others in this coalition argue that the opposite is true. By including energy costs instead of ignoring them, they say, bankers get a much more accurate perception of whether a customer can handle a given debt load.
For more information about the SAVE Act, go to
www.imt.org. There you can download a fact sheet and see the most current list of groups that are supporting the SAVE Act.
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