Justifying Going Green – 1st of 3 Posts

The following three posts are excerpts from my book, Holistically Green Homes, Eighteen Principles for Designing, Building, and Retrofitting Your Energy Efficient Home.

I am often asked, “How can I justify spending more on my home when others, including relatives, bankers, and appraisers advise me to go with conventional construction techniques? Other builders I talk to say with conviction that the houses they build are just as efficient. So, how can I justify to myself and to others that the energy features in my new home or retrofit home will be worth the extra costs?”

I respond that while energy efficient homes often do cost more to build, that's not always the case.  Depending on your plan, your house might not cost more because a well-designed, energy smart home plan often results in the following:

• Lower subcontractor costs for heating and air because the tonnage required to heat and cool your home may be reduced by up to 50%.
• Less square footage and volume so total construction costs may be the same or lower.
• Selecting less expensive décor items—often an easy and wise choice— to offset the cost of energy features and reduce overall total building costs.

The real question is: How do you justify any addional dollars you spend on a green house so you feel good about spending more instead of less?

Start by getting a pre-construction Home Energy Rating System (HERS) analysis of the floor plan and specifications you've chosen for your home.  This analysis should be performed by an independent, certified HERS rater, who will provide you with an extensive written report that includes scientific calculations of energy savings. The report will give you added confidence that the house, if built according to the plans, will truly be more efficient. You can also use the report to communicate the efficiency to the appraiser and the banker to get a better mortgage. The report verifies how much more efficient your house will be in comparison to others being built. Based on the results, you may objectively decide that you want to add other options to make it even more efficient.

In the end, you can objectively justify building or retrofitting a Holistically Green Home because of the following:

• Lower utility bills—gas, electricity and water—beginning the day you move in.
• You will “lock in through time” energy costs that are expected to continuously escalate. 
• Lower life cycle costs—from construction to resale. An energy efficient home costs less in maintenance, taxes, lawn care—all things considered.
• An efficient home is a good long-term, low-risk investment with tax-free savings—an investment you can live in and enjoy, and the mortgage interest is tax deductible.
• Greater comfort when relaxing at home, and less stress when you receive your utility bills.
• Increased self-esteem for those who live in the home.
• Better health because of better indoor air quality.
• You know you are contributing to a better environment; “You are doing the right thing.”
• Pride and satisfaction of ownership—you will feel and enjoy the quality.
• Higher re-sale price—buyers look for better value and lower operating costs—a trend that will be more prevalent in the future.

 

A Message from a Republican Meteorologist

There are some issues that are so important for our common good that they should have bi-partisan support. 

One of these is the risk that the climate changes we are experiencing may be caused by burning fossil fuels to supply us with energy.  Some people say it is just an atmospheric cycle, yet many respected scientists are saying with supporting facts that carbon dioxide and methane gases are rapidly building up in the outer atmosphere and creating a “blanket” around the earth.  This build up keeps more heat here on earth and is causing glaciers and the polar ice to melt.  This melting will cause oceans to rise and force people to migrate to higher ground.  The rising water will be disrupting, but millions of migrants with no home will affect us all in unimaginable and countless ways!

Just assume climate change is a hoax, and we all save energy and generate clean power from renewable sources anyway.  Then, we find that the World and the people in it are better off. It is a win-win response to a risk that we need not take.  There are here and now proven ways that we can reduce our dependence on the burning of fossil fuels and people are just as happy or happier – and our children and grandchildren will be also.

I recently read the following article “A Message from a Republican Meteorologist on Climate Change -- Acknowledging Climate Change Does Not Make You a Liberal or a Conservative.”  It is worth reading – just click on the link below:

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/03/29/454476/a-message-from-a-republican-meteorologist-on-climate-change/

Thanks for taking the time to read it and then encourage your favorite politicians to take bi-partisan action!

A Huge Energy Spill!

Yes, have a "nice day!"

For more information, go to the following website:

http://votesolar.org/

Structural Resilience – Peace of Mind During Storms

New emphasis is being focused on building homes stronger, so you and your family can feel and be secure during storms despite all the lightning, thunder, high winds, and storm sirens. Yes, the chance of severe weather damaging your home is low, but on average, it storms about twice per month. If bad weather causes fear and anxiety for anyone in your family, you will be affected negatively every month. But, if you know you are in a well built, “resilient” structure, or you have access to a storm shelter, you will face the storms with a subtle peace of mind.

How can you build a structurally resilient home? Start by bolting your walls to a steel reinforced foundation and tying the walls and roof together with steel fasteners instead of simple toe-nailing. Building a storm shelter capable of withstanding most any storm instead? Use concrete for the floor, walls, and roof; install a steel door with steel jamb and triple-deadbolts; and fasten them all together with steel rebar. That will meet FEMA safe room specifications. http://www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/saferoom/faq.shtm  Insulated concrete forms (ICFs) filled with reinforced concrete are excellent for building a structurally resilient new home or a storm shelter for an existing home. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulating_concrete_form.

Be mindful that tornadoes and even straight-line winds have a way of finding the weakest points in a building. Floor, walls, and roof must respond as a single, reinforced unit. Even concrete walls fastened properly to the footings and ground can’t offer the protection you need if your roof is not fastened to them with steel plates and fasteners.

The FORTIFIED for Safer Living® program, created by the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, helps homeowners and homebuilders build stronger, safer homes from the ground up. http://www.disastersafety.org/fortified .

It’s clear our weather patterns are changing. Why is the question. My next blog addresses this controversial topic – so stay tuned.

Orlo Stitt

Home Appraisals – Quantifying the Value of Energy Efficiency

If a home is truly more energy efficient, it should be valued higher—don’t you agree?  Unfortunately, the current system of using comparables does not allow for the assignment of added value for greater energy efficiency—even though the escalation of utility costs for an efficient home will be much lower. This is because most homes used as comparables are not very energy efficient, and there has not been an accepted method of quantifying in current and projected dollars the energy efficiency of homes.

But now, the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET), a not-for-profit service corporation, has developed a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) to accurately measure the energy efficiency of new and existing homes. This should lead to changes in appraisal methods used nationwide. In fact, two pieces of legislation are now being considered in the U.S. Congress—both have bi-partisan support and are favorable to the President. 

First, the “SAVE Act” (Sensible Accounting to Value Energy) is legislation to improve the accuracy of mortgage underwriting used by Federal mortgage agencies by ensuring that energy costs are included in the underwriting process. The bill, S. 1737 [112th Congress], was introduced on October 19, 2011, by Senators Bennet (D-Co.) and Isakson (R-Ga.) and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Comparable legislation has not yet been introduced in the House of Representatives. The proposal is supported by a diverse coalition of organizations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Appraisal Institute, the U.S. Green Building Council, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Secondly, the “Cut Energy Bills at Home” Act, if passed, would create the nation’s first performance-based energy efficiency tax credit for existing home retrofits. For the first time, homeowners would be rewarded with a federal tax credit for projects that achieve a percentage reduction in energy use rather than for installing a certain piece of equipment. The legislation would provide tax credits of $2,000 to $5,000 for qualified residential retrofits that save 20% to 50% energy respectively, up to 30% of the cost of the retrofit.

This type of legislation is practical and fair because a HERS Rating Index objectively quantifies the energy efficiency of a home, and therefore the value, or the difference in “before and after” efficiency and the added value of home energy improvements. The HERS Rating procedure and Index is recognized and accepted by the Internal Revenue Service as the basis for extending tax credits. It is also recognized and used by the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Association, the Appraisal Institute, and many other organizations and utilities. And, realtors, appraisers, bankers and underwriters are gradually accepting it as a meaningful way to differentiate between a truly energy efficient home and one that is not. 

Saving energy will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels which is positive in so many ways!  So, stay tuned, and hopefully I will soon be able to report that the bills have been passed!

Future Utility Costs -- What Can You Expect?

“Electricity is consuming a greater share of Americans' after-tax income than at any time since 1996,” reported Dennis Cauchon in USA TODAY earlier this month. Go to:

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2011-12-13/electric-bills/51840042/1

If we attempt to project what the rate of increase in our utility bills may be in the long run, I make several directional comments:
• Rates are not likely to go down in the future. We can only realistically expect them to go up.
• We might expect a 2% to 5% increase on the low side to account for the inflation rate of electric, gas, and propane costs.
• However, if we accept the projections as published by USA Today, we might expect a 5% to 10% or exponential increase in our future utility expenses.

Looking at some of the variables, we see that the big rivers have already been dammed and that the cheap or “easy-to-get-to” oil and gas have been pumped and consumed. Future coal, and fuel extracted from tar sands are still more expensive to mine, transport and burn.

Recently, CNBC’s “60 Minutes” featured a documentary on “Clean Coal.” The truth is that there is no such thing as clean coal! Coal combustion may be “cleaner” but the phrase “Clean Coal” is false advertising and very misleading to the consumer, politicians and others. This documentary clearly explained the facts, logistics, our addiction to fossil fuels and current and future problems related to exhausting billions of tons of carbon dioxide into the air.

In the meantime, for the best return on your investment (ROI), I suggest you focus on greater efficiency. Change your light bulbs if you haven’t already; add insulation; open and close your shades and curtains to control heat gain and loss through your windows, and install a solar water heater and solar electric system to generate your own on-site electricity. Then, expenses of building and operating new coal generation plants will not have to be incurred, and oil extracted from tar sands will not be needed at all!

What a good way to start and finish 2012!

Hottest Days on Record

When I was growing up in Memphis Tennessee, I remember well days when the summer temperatures were “unbearable” with 101 and 102 º F temperatures and with high humidity. Football practices--“two-a-days” in August were experiences I will always remember.As I recall, we had afternoon temperatures over 104 º F.

But, recently, the temperatures are going up to 106 and 107 º F in Memphis and here in Northwest Arkansas. Fort Smith, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Dallas and across the Midwest have experienced 114 º F -- and higher than 100 º F every day for over a month and without significant rain. Today, the forecast is for the hottest day every recorded here in Rogers and other locations in the Midwest.

No, I cannot prove that these unprecedented temperatures are caused by global warming, but as I inferred in my earlier blog, it should make all of us very suspicious and motivate all of us to focus on ways that we can save energy – it is just the right thing to do!