Phil Crone
Director of Green Building Programs
HBA Staff
Nowadays, few things really come as a surprise to me. Indeed these days when someone asks me what’s coming next in the field of green building, I no longer look to products magazines and cost benefit analysis. Instead one of the places to look, heaven-forbid, is to the EPA. The first issue I’ll discuss is more global, but will eventually have a major effect on every sector of the economy, including ours. The next issue hits closer to home. Regarding each, my hope is that the HBA can serve as a resource not only to inform you of what’s coming, but also to provide you with the tools you need to enable your business to weather this changing regulatory climate.
EPA: Greenhouse Gases Threaten Public Health and Welfare
Many of you may have heard about carbon cap and trade, essentially the creation of tradable benefits that arise from the reduction or avoidance of greenhouse gas emissions. A common way to create such an artificial market is to “cap” emissions at a certain amount and gradually reduce it over time allowing entities that pollute less to sell surplus credits to those that produce more. Europe has employed such a system for several years with varying degrees of success.
In 2007, the United States Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA ruled, in 5-4 decision, that greenhouse gases are pollutants and subject to Clean Air Act regulation. The ruling required the EPA to decide whether global warming threatens human health, and if so, to take steps to cut such emissions. Last week, the EPA indeed determined that greenhouse gas emissions represent threats to public health and welfare. The EPA has virtually ensured that greenhouse gases whether they come from planes, trains, automobiles or single family homes can and will be regulated as the words “health and welfare” are cornerstones of enabling legislation (language that tells government what they can regulate) at the federal, state and local levels.
The question that remains to be seen is, who will regulate and how. With this ruling the EPA has arguably put a big green gun to Congress’s head. Justifiably-so many on both sides of the aisle in Congress have been reluctant to institute a cap-and-trade system as it poses a real threat to the economy even in good times. However, if Congress fails to act on regulation of carbon emissions, the EPA could take matters into its own hands and regulate on its own under the Clean Air Act.
It’s too early to say if Congress or the EPA will launch a full-blown eco-inquisition, bring us into an era of green-McCarthyism, levy a carbon tax or create a new carbon market. However, it is clear that this ruling is one of the most significant steps ever taken by the EPA and will provide new challenges and perhaps opportunities in the years ahead.
Big Changes Coming to ENERGY STAR
According to the EPA’s latest numbers, about 37% of all Texas homes are ENERGY STAR certified, leading the next six states combined. However, once the program’s new requirements become effective in 2011, those numbers could drop significantly along with participation in the associated rebate programs. In the links below, you will find a presentation outlining the new requirements, which include:
Adjusted HERS Index scores depending on home size (larger homes will be penalized significantly)
- Required room to room pressure balancing tests (may require additional returns and may increase inspection fees)
- Hot water distribution: requiring manifold (PEX Home-Run) or demand system
- Showerheads rated less than 2.0 g.p.m : outside of camping trailers or RVs there are not many products on the market that meet this requirement. Note also that the EPA’s WaterSense program has yet to issue a specification for showerheads.
- More strict Thermal Bypass requirements (zero tolerance for gaps, voids and compression in insulation). Also additional advanced framing requirements and/or other methods to reduce thermal bridging will be required.
In addition to this, the REM/rate software that determines your HERS Index is currently under development, but is likely to be based on the new 2009 IECC, which, in and of itself, is about 12-15% more stringent than the current energy codes. In other words, an E-Star home in 2011 could be roughly 30% above today’s existing codes, plus the considerations noted above and in the presentation linked below.
None of these provisions are set in stone yet, but as the new ENERGY STAR program takes shape the HBA will be working with municipalities that have mandated the program as well as its own Green Built Texas program to ensure that innovation, flexibly and cost considerations are addressed.
Energy Star: The Road Ahead Presentation: http://www.resnet.us/conference/2009/presentations/Rashkin-Road_Ahead.pdf
