It’s time to provide ‘seat belts’ for homeowners

When we have a choice to make, taking the high road means choosing the honorable or ethical course over some lesser alternative. In terms of housing efficiency, Nevada has a choice to promote an ethical path toward increased home energy efficiency and savings, or to maintain the dismal and expensive status quo.

I'm referring to legislation passed in 2007 to require a professional home energy audit whenever an older home is sold in Nevada. The requirement could be waived if both seller and buyer agreed to do so. To allow time for the industry to prepare, the activation date was set for January of 2011. I won't bore you with the torturous details, but the bottom line is that due to opposition from industry trade groups, primarily the Nevada Association of Realtors, it may not happen. This would be a tragic outcome for the citizens of Nevada.

Home energy audits provide the key to reducing energy consumption, improving the environment, increasing home comfort and establishing an honest real estate market that acknowledges the true value of home performance. Energy costs are a significant part of a home's operating budget, yet home performance is rarely a factor in the buying decision. When looking for a home, a prospective buyer will find more information about granite countertops and fake fireplaces than energy consumption.

For those lucky enough to find a good, high-performance home, there are additional hurdles to overcome. Typically, most Realtors, appraisers and lenders are not well-versed on the unique benefits and true value of such homes. Current practices tend to focus on square footage, number of bathrooms and cosmetic amenities. This represents a gross distortion of the market since high-performance homes have significant intrinsic value representing real dollars. Why should they not be represented, appraised and funded accordingly? With a home energy audit at the time of every sale, our existing housing stock will have a mechanism to improve over time and help prospective buyers make decisions based on the real cost of home ownership.

It's all about education. The so-called "free market" has not led to a solution since even in the best of times the industry has not acknowledged the true value of energy efficiency. That's why wise legislators passed the law and it's why we need corresponding regulations that meet the intent.

One early objection by the real estate industry was that there were no qualified auditors to get the job done. That is no longer the case. In response to the passing of the original bill three years ago, an entire home-performance industry continues to form. The Nevada Building Performance Professionals represents many of the newly formed small businesses that will provide the services required to meet the demand for detailed, accurate audits. It is aligned with nationally accepted organizations and testing standards like the Residential Energy Services Network, the Building Performance Institute, the Home Energy Rating System Program and Home Performance with Energy Star. These local companies are poised to create new jobs, stimulate Nevada's economy and help all residents maintain reasonable energy bills.

There is no acceptable alternative for these services. A HERS rating is a simple number that is the equivalent to the mpg rating of a car, but the accompanying detailed energy audit report provides specific information to help the homeowner select the most cost-effective improvements.

Nevada now even has its own auditor training programs. Additional programs have been created to make the auditing and improvement process easy to do and more affordable.

The decision to implement a strong audit requirement or a watered-down, ineffective alternative is in the domain of the Nevada Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Authority. A workshop will be held Nov. 16 at 1:30 p.m. Details of the workshop and the entire process, including an excellent report on the value of home energy audits are posted on my website.

The auto industry once opposed requirements for seat belts but no one in their right mind now drives without them. Proper energy audits are like seat belts for homeowners. Awareness of home energy efficiency is crucial to the future of our state. We must choose the high road. It's the ethical choice for meaningful energy audits that will lead to a stronger, greener and more independent Nevada.

Steve Rypka is a green living consultant and president of GreenDream Enterprises, a company committed to helping people live lighter on the planet. For more information and links to additional resources relating to this column, or to reach Steve, please visit www.greendream.biz.