http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin...17/story1.html
Friday, December 14, 2007
City may up ante on green building Regulations may kick in at point of sale
Austin Business Journal - by Jean Kwon ABJ Staff
Stores that sell energy-efficient appliances and homebuilding products could see a bump in business if the city enacts some proposed regulations.
View Larger The latest initiative by city officials to dramatically ramp up energy efficiency and make Austin the municipal leader of the green movement calls for all existing commercial buildings and homes to comply with energy-efficiency retrofits and upgrades at the point of sale.
The Austin City Council this month put together a task force of stakeholders to recommend new code and administrative requirements for commercial, multifamily and single-family properties, including rental properties. They will finalize recommendations, which will include a combination of code changes and incentive programs, by June. A draft ordinance is expected by August 2008.
The initiative is part of Mayor Will Wynn's ambitious Climate Protection Plan, introduced in February, which pledges to implement the most energy-efficient building codes in the country. The City Council in October approved building code rewrites aimed at achieving zero-energy capability in all new single-family home construction by 2015.
Because new construction makes up only a small percentage of total building stock, the city needs to target existing homes and buildings if it wants to significantly reduce energy consumption, Wynn says.
Point-of-sale retrofits and upgrades will require, at minimum, basic features that don't require major construction or appliance retrofits, say city staff. Basic requirements may include features such as adequate attic insulation, solar screens for windows, properly sealed air ducts and weather stripping.
Point-of-sale retrofits and upgrades may also include more advanced and costly energy efficiency strategies, like replacing heating and air conditioning systems with high-efficiency systems or adding elements such as south- and west-facing awnings. Those features may be incentivized through an Austin Energy-administered rebate or bonus program due to their excess costs, say city staff.
Charles Porter, chairman of the Austin Board of Realtors, says the point-of-sale requirements may hit hard homeowners caught in the subprime mortgage crisis.
"It's a tremendous burden for those who are trying to save for their home any way they can as their adjustable rate mortgage rates have just gone up, and when they can finally sell their home they need more money out-of-pocket to meet the city requirements," he says.
Rental properties -- given that about half of the city's population are renters -- will be required to make retrofits and upgrades by a certain date. Owners of these properties generally have no financial incentives to make upgrades because all energy costs are passed on to tenants, say city staff.
Experts say the new rules will change the way people buy and sell homes and buildings. Energy-efficiency ratings or certification based on retrofits and upgrades on homes and buildings will become as valuable to the consumer as mileage readings on cars, say city staff. Homes and buildings with advanced upgrades can command higher sale prices at resale because of the energy savings they promise, says Nathan Doxsey, principal at Texas Green Realty.
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