Idaho in vanguard of energy efficient building codes

From Energy Efficient Codes Coalition

Many states and cities have yet to adopt up-to-date standards for new construction.

Idaho builders and officials are working together to ensure that new homes meet international energy-efficiency standards, experts say.

At the same time, buyers are becoming more savvy about the benefits of energy-saving improvements and are accepting the costs more than in the past.

“We’ve had some really good commitment from builders,” said Ken Baker, a member and former chairman of the governor’s task force for energy-efficiency and conservation and one of the coordinators of Idaho’s energy code initiative.

Across the nation, all energy-efficiency codes aren’t equal. California and Texas have adopted codes that at least match those in Idaho, which adopted the International Energy Conservation Code. But in other states, efficiency standards have been fought by builders. Some states have no codes at all.

In the Treasure Valley, many small companies are building homes to standards set by Energy Star, said Baker, an energy-efficiency consultant who owns K energy in Boise. Energy Star is a voluntary government program with standards revised regularly to meet or exceed the international code.

For instance, on the outside, a Hubble home in South Boise looks like homes common in other subdivisions across Idaho. But a look behind the walls shows that the builder has taken energy-efficiency to a higher level.

The walls use 2-by-6 framing lumber instead of 2-by-4s to make more room for insulation. Crawl spaces are enclosed with no vents to the outside and with circulated air. Water pipes are wrapped.

“It costs another $2,000 to $3,000 more,” said Don Hubble, owner of Hubble Homes. “But our homeowners get to save money on their heating bills” throughout the life of the home.

Hubble Homes became the first volume builder in the Valley to construct every home to Energy Star standards beginning this year, Baker said.

THE TWO STEPS TO EFFICIENCY
Baker said strong standards are one part of achieving energy-efficiency. Strong enforcement of building codes is the other.

In the Treasure Valley, local governments including Boise, Nampa and Ada County inspect plans and buildings before they are occupied to make sure they meet the international code adopted by the state, officials say.

The code is updated on an ongoing basis. The Legislature will consider the latest proposed changes, called supplements, in 2010.

“We’re doing well on our enforcement across the state,” Baker said.

Climate scientists and architects say no single policy change could do more to save energy in the long run – and reduce the U.S. contribution to global warming – than building codes that make saving energy the law.

Since the energy crisis of the 1970s, the United States has known it has an energy problem. Yet today, the energy requirements in building codes remain weak across half the country, and at least seven states have virtually no rules. That means that in many places, particularly the nation’s heartland, almost every new home, store and factory that goes up locks the country into unnecessary energy use for years to come.

EXPERT: IDAHO CODES ARE EFFECTIVE
In many places, builders are still using too little insulation. Citing cost, they have not adopted the most energy-saving water heaters, roofing materials or window panes. This is not the case in Idaho, where insulation and the rest are vital to energy conservation because of cold winters, experts say.

Stricter codes have been fought bitterly by powerful builders’ lobbies. But in a few places, including cities like Austin, Texas, and states like California, tough new rules have been adopted.

Baker said comparing Idaho and California or Texas codes is like comparing apples to oranges – codes in climates with higher overall temperatures focus on cooling for energy-efficiency, while codes in cooler climates like Idaho, where buildings use more energy, mainly deal with heating issues.

“The international codes that we’ve adopted in Idaho are on track to procure as much energy-efficiency as codes in these other places,” Baker said.

NO NEW TECHNOLOGY NEEDED TO CONSERVE
Boise and other cities in Idaho have had energy-efficiency codes for decades, and the state adopted the International Energy Conservation Code just after it appeared less than a decade ago.

“Idaho was one of the first states to adopt that,” said Jenifer Gilliland, Boise’s Building Division manager.

Gilliland and Baker said builders were on board from the beginning, even before being green became trendy.

The efforts of these localities show that no new technology needs to be invented to make major gains in saving energy. Products already available permit the construction of homes at least 30 percent more efficient than the national average. With enough political will, a new law can be put in place anywhere with the stroke of a pen and made even more potent if it is coupled with tough oversight.

As global warming has become a pressing issue, sentiment has developed in Washington to push the country toward more stringent building codes. The Obama administration’s stimulus package, enacted in February, required states to pledge to adopt stricter energy building codes as a condition of receiving more than $3 billion in funding for various energy programs.

STATE GETS STIMULUS MONEY FOR EFFICIENCY

Idaho promised to continue to adopt the code changes. As a result, the state will receive almost $10 million in grants to help bolster energy-efficiency. Nampa will use its grant money to hire an energy conservation specialist to work with mechanical contractors on increasing the efficiency of heating and cooling systems.

“We could realize 20 percent to 30 percent cost savings in upgrades to these systems,” said Nampa Building Official Dennis Davis.

Energy legislation moving through Congress would set binding federal targets for efficiency that would require most states, including Idaho, to adjust their codes. The proposed legislation aims to achieve an efficiency improvement in the next few years of at least 30 percent in states that already have up-to-date codes, and even more in states without them. That requirement would gradually tighten through 2030.

Strong codes are helping states reduce the growth in their electricity use – sometimes to the point that per capita consumption has leveled off, as in California, which developed its own energy code not tied to the international codes.

Many Idaho builders are using efficiencies and savings for customers to market their homes, Baker said.

‘WE’RE DOING JUST AS GOOD AS THEY ARE’
But elsewhere, builders warn that tough energy building codes would further harm the housing market and encourage people, particularly those with modest incomes, to live in older homes that are less efficient. “It’s extremely difficult to market and sell efficiency in a new house as an incentive,” said Harry Savio, executive vice president of the Austin Home Builders Association.

States that have no statewide mandatory codes, or perfunctory ones, include Alabama, Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming, according to the Building Codes Assistance Project, a research group that supports codes.

Amory Lovins, founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute and one of the country’s leading voices on energy-efficiency, estimated that if every state had a building code as tough as California’s, energy consumption in a typical new home could be cut as much as 75 percent.

Baker said Idaho buildings use more energy than those in hotter climates because of the need for heating, but the state is making gains just as great by adopting the international code and educating builders on how to make the most of them.

“We’re doing just as good as they are,” he said.