Renewing focus on the low hanging fruit

Green Building Law wrote a good post promoting pink over green (i.e. insulation over solar photovoltaic systems). Similarly, CSM ran an opinion piece entitled “Green homes: solar vs. energy efficiency” that came to a similar conclusion. GBL (and I) agree that CSM didn’t seem to try very hard in their search for solutions, writing that “Policymakers say energy efficiency doesn’t have out-of-the-box solutions that are easy to mandate or incentivize.”

Regular readers may recall that this site discussed weatherstripping just a few weeks ago as part of an ongoing discussion of complexity-free solutions.

The current incentive structure, while it has the added benefit of promoting R&D and other desirable benefits, typically sells short more reliable and well-known solutions that could be installed by soon to be displaced skilled but non-professional tradespeople. Single family home energy audits cost several hundred dollars ($400-700 seems to be the going rate in the DC area) but per unit costs would be significantly less and could actually be performed by on-site service teams. So long as there is a difference between interior and exterior temperatures, using an infra-red imager will allow you to see cold spots and intrusions without a blower door. I can do it and I’m about the most unskilled person allowed on sites.

My firm has investments in about 230,000 units nationwide in a little over 2,100 apartment communities. Because most of our projects participate in the LIHTC program, we are subject to the QAP process, in which states mandate certain minimums to receive tax credits for affordable housing. If these requirements (occasionally incentives) could be included in market-rate housing, the impact would be both immediate and widespread. To put that 230,000 unit number into perspective, there are 5 states with fewer than 260,000 households (2000 Census).

The way to improve efficiency is to educate owners and lenders, and use effective policy tools to promote the best comprise of timing, cost, and achievement. Eventually, home inspections will automatically include an energy audit. It is up to policy makers and lenders to speed that date.