Built Green® with ENERGY STAR: A Natural

Built Green® with ENERGY STAR: A Natural

Built Green® Colorado has been behind the growth of green and energy efficient home building in Colorado since 1995. Over that period of time, green building has become part of the culture of the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver and much of its membership, and increasingly woven into the fabric of the home building industry. ENERGY STAR®, a recognized label for many of the appliances and electronic devices in our homes and offices, has expanded its influence to buildings, including new homes. So how are they different? Built Green® Colorado is a comprehensive rating program that looks at the value of “greener,” more environmentally appropriate options to standard building products and techniques, as well as energy efficiency, tuned to the climate and building practices of Colorado. ENERGY STAR is a national brand that evaluates the qualities of various building components so that consumers can choose more efficient products without being experts in the technology; it also has a new home program that sets minimum performance criteria for new homes. Built Green® and ENERGY STAR have been informally linked for quite some time. The Built Green® Checklist has referenced ENERGY STAR throughout its development, recommending ENERGY STAR appliances early in the program and, more recently, introducing the ENERGY STAR Advanced Lighting Package as ENERGY STAR becomes more entrenched in the residential building industry. Both Built Green® and ENERGY STAR are dynamic programs, constantly evolving as new technologies and research reveal better ways of building.

In its evolution, Built Green® has brought in other programs where there were opportunities to “plug in” an appropriate component. For example, the American Lung Association Health House standards are included in the Built Green® Checklist as a single item that gains 13 points. In the 2007-2008 Checklist, ENERGY STAR New Home criteria are similarly packaged as one of four options for the minimum energy requirement to qualify a home as Built Green®. Packaging these external programs has a couple of benefits. It recognizes the credible work and expertise put into other programs and minimizes confusion by consumers by demonstrating that these programs share the same goal of quality, high performance homes. It also reduces the time required to develop and maintain some of the technical aspects of Built Green®, time that can be focused more on builder training and consumer education.

This year Built Green® and ENERGY STAR have formalized their relationship by setting the ENERGY STAR New Home criteria as the minimum energy standard for all Built Green® homes. This change will officially take place in October 2008, but builders are already preparing, and in many cases have already reached this new standard. Through Built Green®, builders have taken advantage of the opportunity to continuously improve their homes’ performance to the point where, even if they aren’t currently meeting the specific criteria for ENERGY STAR, the difference is less onerous than it may have been a couple of years ago. It should also be noted that the minimum energy requirement for Built Green® exceeds the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code.

So as a new home buyer, what does Built Green® with ENERGY STAR mean to you? Take a look at this list of features that are likely to be in your new home:

• Optimum insulation properly installed with no voids (bare spots)
• High-performance windows for energy savings and comfort
• Penetrations in the home’s shell properly sealed to prevent
  uncontrolled air infiltration
• Ducts sealed with mastic (not duct tape)
• Gas appliances are “sealed combustion” (air for combustion is
  ducted from the outside and doesn’t mix with indoor air)
• Low/no VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints and finishes
  are used; carpet is minimized and tacked, not glued
• Proper moisture control to avoid condensation and leaks (mold
  and structural damage)
• Energy efficient lighting package
• Independent testing of the home’s energy system

The partnership of Built Green® and ENERGY STAR is a natural match. Energy efficiency has always been fundamental to green building, since the environmental impact of the operation of buildings over their lifetime is significant. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a typical home can cause as much as twice the greenhouse emissions of an average automobile, and most of this is in the energy consumed to keep the home comfortable. But there is more to the partnership than just joining two recognized programs together. Built Green® with ENERGY STAR further validates the importance of looking at the entire home as an interactive system. This “system” is much more complicated than it used to be, and both programs have continued to bring the latest building science to homebuilders to not only prevent problems in the future, but to get the best performance possible.

Built Green® Colorado has been helping builders find energy solutions to new homes since 1995. Visitors to homes in the Flatirons Tour of Homes should make a point to visit those homes that are labeled Built Green®. There they will see many of the features recommended on the Built Green® Checklist, which lists nearly 200 different green building options. As far as the cost of higher performance homes is concerned, builders recognize that “affordability” is a long-term issue that doesn’t end at the closing table. With the added benefits of ENERGY STAR, these builders are giving their customers an even better chance to maintain a comfortable and healthy home environment without taking a huge bite out of their
monthly budget.

Green building is smart building. It makes economic and ecological sense. The urgency of reducing our dependence on foreign oil has become painfully evident over the last few years, but it was always a good idea. And the potential is huge for drastic reductions in our consumption of oil and other resources without sacrificing our quality of life. As a matter of fact, our quality of life should improve in the process. So when you leave the Tour of Homes this year and go looking for a new home, start with the list of builders that build to the standards of Built Green® with ENERGY STAR (www.builtgreen.org). Why would you go any further?

Built Green® Colorado is a voluntary, industry-led program administered by the Home Builders Association of Metro Denver. ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S. Department of Energy (www.eere.doe.gov) and Environmental Protection Agency (www.epa.gov).

Doug Seiter contributes on energy and environmental building issues, and is the former State Coordinator of Built Green® Colorado. He can be reached at dlseiter@comcast.net.