New state law requires builders to meet specific conservation guidelines in new homes

Sue McAllister
Source Saturday, Oct. 27, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News

A new state law, spurred by the state energy crunch, means California
home builders will need to be more energy-efficient in design and
construction.

That's good news for home buyers, although they may have to pay a little
more for a new home.

The law, which was effective June 1, says home builders who apply for
building permits must meet new guidelines for constructing
energy-conserving homes. There's an exception made for subdivisions
where construction was already under way before June 1. But even those
subdivisions-in-progress will have to conform to the new efficiency
mandates as of Jan. 1.

A house constructed under the new standards will be about 12 percent
more energy efficient than one built under the old guidelines, said Rob
Hammon of ConSol, a Stockton consulting and engineering firm that helps
builders ensure they are in compliance with the new standards. The old
requirements had been in place since 1998.

Estimates of how much it will cost builders to meet the new standards range
from about $300 to $1,800 per home. In general, new home prices have
fallen this year in response to a slowing economy and cooling demand, so
home buyers are unlikely to discern much of a price increase due to the
energy requirements.

The California Energy Commission, with assistance from the California
Building Industry Association, began developing the new standards last
year.

Here are some features you might find in new homes, thanks to the new
energy requirements:

Spectrally selective glass. This special window glass blocks about 40
percent of the infrared light that can come through regular windows, thus
keeping the home's interior cooler. The glass also is cooler to the touch than
regular windows exposed to sun.

A ``thermostatic expansion valve'' in the air-conditioning system.
This feature will be invisible to the homeowner, but it regulates the amount
of refrigerant flowing in the air conditioner and makes the system perform
more efficiently.

``Radiant barriers'' for roofs. The material looks sort of like aluminum
foil adhered to the underside of a roof, and serves to reflect heat from the
sun away from attic space. It can cool an attic by up to 20 degrees on a hot
day, Hammon said.

``Tight ducts.'' Typical heating and air-conditioning ducts lose about 20
percent to 30 percent of the air flowing through them. That means
homeowners spend money to heat or cool air that is flowing out behind
walls and ceilings, not in living spaces. The new regulations say leakage
should be less than 6 percent.

Small builders

Builders do not have to implement all four of these energy-saving measures,
but using some combination of the four will provide the easiest path to
meeting the new guidelines.

Builders who use the special air-conditioner valves or the ``tight ducts''
must have those systems inspected by a specially certified outside
contractor.

The new requirements apply to some remodelers as well. The California
Energy Commission has an ``alternative package'' for remodelers that calls
for very-high-efficiency windows and air conditioning, but no third-party
testing.

Big builders like KB Home and Ryland Group report that it has not been
terribly hard to adapt to the new regulations. But smaller builders with
fewer resources to spare for energy consultants, for example, may have a
harder time adjusting.

Even with the state's residents focused on energy costs like never before,
builders say they don't think the new energy efficiency standards will be a
huge selling point with potential buyers. ``You can talk about energy
efficiency in new homes vs. older homes, but I don't know how you can
quantify it in terms of savings to consumers,'' said Robert Freed, regional
president of KB Home.

New vs. old

``It's not like it's going to be a competitive advantage'' over other builders,
since all home builders are required to meet the new standards, said Pam
Krebs, spokeswoman for builder the Ryland Group. But she and others
said energy efficiency can help new homes compare favorably with older
homes in customers' minds. ``Everybody's going to appreciate a lower
energy bill,'' Krebs said.

It's possible that builders can use energy efficiency as a marketing tool only
by far exceeding the state standards. At a Shea Homes development called
Scripps Highlands in San Diego, for example, the builder installed solar
hot-water heaters on the roofs and all roofs were built with ``radiant
barriers'' to keep out excess heat. The homes, which range in price from the
low $500,000s to the mid-$600,000s, exceed the old efficiency standards
by about 30 percent, said Teri Shusterman, Shea's marketing director.

On one-third of the homes, the builder installed solar-energy-generating
photovoltaic panels on the roof as a standard feature. Shusterman said the
homes with the photovoltaic panels ``sold just as fast, if not faster'' than
homes without. About 20 percent of buyers whose homes didn't have the
panels as standard opted to buy them, she said.

``There was no resistance to having it already selected,'' she said. ``It kind
of lets us know that maybe they would rather have us make the decisions
for them.''

Existing homes

With new energy-saving measures now law for new homes, the California
Building Industry Association and some state legislators are turning their
focus to existing homes.

According to the CBIA, about 75 percent of California's 12 million homes
-- or 9 million houses -- were built before 1983, when the first statewide
energy standards were put in place. A bill in the Legislature, AB 549,
would require the state Energy Commission to find ways to improve energy
efficiency in existing homes and non-residential buildings, then report back
to lawmakers by January 2003.

``We need to put new attention on existing homes,'' said Hammon of
ConSol. ``There's huge opportunities there if we want to reduce energy
use, to go back to those homes and do something to them that's relatively
simple and inexpensive.''

More on Title-24 Building Standards at California Energy Commission