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November 4, 2019 |
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In this Issue
• Residential Properties Join Energy Benchmarking
• The Green Revolution Spreading Across Our Rooftops
• When Discussing Efficiency Upgrades, the HERS Index Helps
• Tesla, ChargePoint Push Building Code Changes to Boost EV Charging
• More Stories
Residential Properties Join Energy Benchmarking
Finance & Commerce (09/30/19) Jossi, Frank
Energy benchmarking is catching on among residential building and property owners as regulations and market demands add to its growing necessity. The movement has expanded to single-family homebuilders, which use a rating system that allows buyers to see how well a house will perform. The U.S. Green Building Council's Sheri Brezinka said benchmarking encourages property owners to make energy improvements, with weaknesses in performance typically prompting changes to lower energy consumption. Also fueling enthusiasm for benchmarking is increasing demand for it by cities, especially those with far-reaching climate goals. Minneapolis is a case in point, and this year started requiring multifamily housing buildings of 100,000 or more square feet to file data on energy and water use using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager. Over 60 percent of buildings in that category met this requirement, according to Minneapolis sustainability director Kim Havey. He noted residential buildings had a higher compliance rate than commercial buildings for the first year, partly because building owners realize that the city will be benchmarking all commercial and residential buildings of 50,000 square feet or larger. Minneapolis also has passed a law requiring homes and apartments to get an energy rating.
The Green Revolution Spreading Across Our Rooftops
New York Times (10/09/19) DiNardo, Kelly
The popularity of green roofs has been growing amid mounting worries about climate change and natural resource depletion, and the Canada-based organization Green Roofs for Healthy Cities estimates green roofs in North America have increased about 15 percent since 2013. Green roofs can reduce surrounding air temperature, filter dirty stormwater, and lower a building's energy consumption, with the National Research Council of Canada calculating that a green roof can reduce air-conditioning use in a building by up to 75 percent. As green roofs' benefits become clear, more cities are passing green roof laws worldwide. Toronto was the first North American city to pass such legislation in 2009, requiring new buildings or additions greater than 21,000 square feet to cover 20 percent to 60 percent of their buildings with vegetation. A typical green roof is assembled from multiple layers, including a waterproof membrane, a root barrier, a drainage layer, a growth medium, and foliage. The University of Toronto's Green Roof Innovation Testing Laboratory has led pioneering green roof research. City planners hope green roofs will ameliorate the urban "heat island" effect, where a metropolitan area is significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas due to human activity. Adding to the popularity of green roofs is their value as amenities in residential buildings.
When Discussing Efficiency Upgrades, the HERS Index Helps
Air Conditioning, Heating & Refrigeration News (10/07/19) Beverly, Robert
When it comes to efficiency improvements, the Residential Energy Services Network's (RESNET) Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index is a useful resource for homeowners and home shoppers for measuring current conditions and understanding likely energy costs or possible upgrade priorities. A score of 100 means a home is dead-on average in terms of energy efficiency, but higher scores reflect less efficiency than the average. However, a home with a HERS rating of 70 is 30 percent more efficient than the RESNET reference home, with 0 representing a perfect score. Hypothetically, the level of performance earning a score of 100 would skew better over time, as the average residence's energy efficiency improves. Condition factors that contribute to a home's RESNET-based HERS rating align with typical home performance contracting targets and goals. Those factors include: all exterior walls both above and below grade; floors over unconditioned spaces; ceilings and roofs; attics, foundations, and crawlspaces; windows and doors; vents and ductwork; the HVAC system, water heating system, and thermostat; air leakage; and leakage in the heating and cooling distribution system. RESNET Certified Home Energy Raters must get training from an organization listed on RESNET's online training provider page, and pass several national core competency exams. The HERS index is sufficiently new that successful home performance contracting companies may not currently factor it in, although RESNET estimates that 2.6 million homes have received HERS ratings, with 159,000 taking place this year.
Tesla, ChargePoint Push Building Code Changes to Boost EV Charging
Axios (10/23/19) Hart, Kim
To encourage wider adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), Tesla and ChargePoint are urging cities and states to update their building codes to include EV charging capacity. The codes would apply to both renovation permits and new construction. The companies also want California to increase current minimum EV-ready building requirements to facilitate EV deployment. California's Green Building Standards Code mandates 6 percent of parking spaces in new non-residential buildings be EV-capable. The code also calls for 250,000 EV-capable charging stations to be publicly available by 2025, up from today's roughly 22,000 statewide. Atlanta requires EV charging infrastructure updates when building or repaving parking or when modifying an electrical panel, while San Francisco requires adding EV charging infrastructure when tearing down medium to large buildings. Tesla, ChargePoint, and the California Electric Transportation Coalition recently commissioned EnergySolutions to conduct a cost analysis for building scenarios in retail, office, hospitals, and schools. EnergySolutions estimates that it is four to six times less expensive to install EV-capable parking spots during new construction or ongoing renovations. "We're really transitioning away from a gas station model of charging to a model where people expect to be able to charge wherever they park," says Anne Smart, ChargePoint's VP of public policy. "Not every state has the political capacity or legal ability to set these policies, so cities will be at the forefront."
This House Design Is Completely Free to Download and Has a Net-Zero Footprint
OB Rag (10/04/2019) Brown, Evan Nicole
In 2016, city officials in Phoenix, Arizona, unveiled a sustainability road map intended to convert the city in a carbon-neutral, zero-waste one. The road map encouraged the construction of ultra-low-energy-usage homes. However, officials found that design services can be costly and time-consuming to procure for average homebuilders. As a result, the city and the American Institute of Architects’ Arizona chapter in 2017 launched a design competition called Sustainable Home Design. The winning plan would be offered to anyone at no cost. The contest invited local architects to design homes that would achieve a nearly net-zero footprint. Architects’ submissions had to be rated by the official Home Energy Rating System (HERS). The lower the index score, the more energy efficient a home is. The design competition required a HERS rating of 30, which is 70 percent lower than most houses. The winner of the contest, Marlene Imirzian & Associates Architects, went even lower. The company's affordable, three-bedroom home, dubbed HOME nz, has a HERS rating of zero. A $100,000 prize went to Imirzian's firm, and the design is now available for widespread use. The City of Phoenix has made the construction plans for HOME nz available for free to encourage the public to build more eco-friendly homes. "The city of Phoenix has a very visionary sustainability director and department who are looking for leadership for built work in the Phoenix area," says Imirzian. "[The] goal was to show how simple moves could result in significant [environmental] changes."
Residential Construction’s Silver Bullet?
Builder (10/20/19)
One of the homes in Mechanicsville, Md., demonstrates a robust solution to environmental, life safety, comfort, and constructability issues many builders face. The home is built with insulated concrete forms (ICFs), an extremely high-performing and easy-to-use material. ICFs are hollow, lightweight paneled blocks of sandwiched plastic foam. The hollow center is filled at the worksite with reinforced concrete, creating a resilient and energy-efficient wall. In addition, ICF is a mature building process fully code-compliant with the ICC and CCMC. "ICFs helps solve the labor issue with light, easy to assemble panels that require only a small crew," says Tony Aina, Green Building Guru at building supply company BuilderUp. ICFs also offer increased assembly speed, six-in-one wall assembly, energy savings, wing and fire protection, comfort, and owner affordability. ICFs "work within the labor force we have and deliver a much better product that people can afford. It’s a win-win for everyone," Aina adds.
Built Green Canada Launches HD Renovation Program pilot
Remi Network (10/03/19)
Built Green Canada launched the High Density (HD) Renovation Program pilot with four projects underway, courtesy of Strategic Group's office-to-residential repurposing projects in Calgary and Edmonton. The cost of entering the housing market continues to make home ownership a challenge, forcing a growing number of Canadians to turn to multifamily apartments as an affordable option and lifestyle choice. As Canadians and all levels of government increasingly focus on climate mitigation, there is a significant opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen the economy through energy-efficient retrofits of older homes and buildings. Alongside Built Green's Single Family Renovation Program, the HD Renovation Program offers builders a way to renovate high density and high density mixed-use buildings more sustainably. The certified renovations benefit the environment as well as the owners and occupants who will enjoy a healthier, more durable, and more affordable home through a reduction in operating and maintenance costs. In order to qualify for the HD Renovation Program, significant upgrades or retrofits must be made to the energy-related building systems, including the building envelope and the mechanical and electrical systems. Then, the energy performance of the building's upgrades and retrofits are compared to the requirements of the current energy standard or energy code used for modeling in order to demonstrate the energy savings resulting from the renovation. "The program encourages a myriad of sustainable practices, including the reuse of building materials, as we recognize the reduced environmental impact, and therefore credit may be claimed through material usage and waste reduction," says Built Green CEO Jenifer Christenson.
Energy Coalition Urges Passage of Legislation Expanding Home Energy Efficiency Tax Credit
Daily Energy Insider (10/04/19) Flax, Debra
The Alliance to Save Energy and more than 35 other organizations and businesses is urging quick congressional action on the recently introduced Home Energy Savings Act. The bill is a bipartisan measure aiming to help lower energy costs and reduce carbon emissions by strengthening a tax credit for energy-efficient home upgrades. "Homeowners overwhelmingly say they want to improve the efficiency of their homes, and this bill provides the incentives that are needed to make the investment happen," says Alliance to Save Energy president Jason Hartke. The legislation—sponsored by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), and Reps. Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa.)—will reinstate and reform the Section 25C credit for homeowner efficiency improvements, which expired on Dec. 31, 2017. Under the new legislation, homeowners could receive up to $1,200 in tax credits for installing home equipment and components that meet certain efficiency levels, including insulation, doors, windows, air conditioners, heat pumps, water heaters, boilers, and furnaces. In the near future, the group also plans to introduce the New Home Energy Efficiency Act, legislation that will help incentivize greater energy efficiency in the construction of new homes through the reinstatement and reform of the Section 45L credit for new home construction, providing homebuilders with a $2,500 incentive for building high-efficiency new homes. Both bills have garnered wide support, including from the Natural Resources Defense Council, the U.S. Green Building Council, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, the National Association of Home Builders, and the National Multifamily Housing Council, among others.
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News summaries © copyright 2019 SmithBucklin
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