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I'd rather see something like nutrition labels but instead efficiency measures in various areas for new homes before a tax. Having bought a number of homes it'

I'd rather see something like nutrition labels but instead efficiency measures in various areas for new homes before a tax. Having bought a number of homes it's surprisingly painful and infeasible to compare apples-to-apples upfront. "Easy" to get details on a per-house level but just about impossible to filter your search early based on efficiency.

dforrestwilson 9y ago
I built an Energy Star certified home in Georgia for maybe 5% more than the cost would have been otherwise. It's been a great rental since we left the area. Utility bills or estimated utility bills are the clearest way we have found to advertise the value to renters.
pcardoso 9y ago
This is already a thing at least here in Portugal. This is a energy efficiency certificate that is now mandatory when renting and selling a house: http://www.adene.pt/sites/default/files/documentos/certificado_adene_reh.v2.pdf http://www.adene.pt/sites/default/files/documentos/certifica... (PDF)
- ptaipale 9y ago
  All of EU, but in my opinion it's mostly a scam. Companies that perform this certification lobbied to make it mandatory whenever selling a house. However, the certificate does not tell you the real energy consumption. The calculation is based on "weighting factors" for whatever energy production format the politicians want to favor currently, so at least where I live, in Finland - where energy consumption really matters in the winter - when you buy a house, you pay for a certificate that is not very useful, and then you ask the previous owner for the actual energy bills he had, to asses the real cost and consumption. The latter is, of course, what everyone did already before this certificate system. OK, it's just a few hundred euros per sale. A bigger problem in the various energy saving initiatives is that houses built to this code sometimes develop very nasty air quality problems (due to air not changing in some places fast enough, or subtle leakages in the airtight balloon where you live) which then forces costly renovations and in the worst case destroy health.
FidelCashflow 9y ago
A blower door test is a great measure of a homes energy efficiency and it's quite cheap to have done. Not sure if YT links are OK but check out Matt Risinger Blower Door Test https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msZ_E-4GFs8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msZ_E-4GFs8
dx034 9y ago
In many parts of Europe (probably all of EU), energy consumption has to be given when renting out or selling homes. Often, they also have to be advertised for public buildings.
sarcher 9y ago
There are a couple of certification programs out there that are well regarded (with vary levels of real-world usage): Energy Star: https://www.energystar.gov/newhomes/ https://www.energystar.gov/newhomes/ Zero Energy Ready Homes: https://energy.gov/eere/buildings/zero-energy-ready-home https://energy.gov/eere/buildings/zero-energy-ready-home Passive House: http://www.phius.org/home-page http://www.phius.org/home-page LEED for Homes: https://www.usgbc.org/cert-guide/homes https://www.usgbc.org/cert-guide/homes And my favorite, the Pretty Good House: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/pretty-good-house http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/p... Honestly, if you're buying a new home and the builder hasn't ponied up for Energy Star, you've got to wonder where their priorities are - it's not a difficult program to achieve. You can find Energy Star builders here: https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=new_homes_partners.locator https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=new_homes_pa... I agree, there is little transparency on the home-buying front, largely because adherence to one of these certifications is still pretty rare. Also, it's rarely taken into account in the appraisal process.
- cyguy 9y ago
  There is also the HERS Index, which is probably the most popular: https://www.resnet.us/hers-index https://www.resnet.us/hers-index. 22% of homes received HERS Index Scores in 2016. It is a simple score that indicates the efficiency of a home. A score of 0 represents Net-Zero, and score of 100 represents a "typical home". If you're buying a home (and you care), you should ask if it has been HERS Rated and to see the HERS Certificate. Source for 22%: http://www.resnet.us/blog/national-renewable-energy-laboratory-research-finds-the-22-of-new-home-completed-in-the-u-s-in-2016-were-hers-rated/ http://www.resnet.us/blog/national-renewable-energy-laborato...
  - sarcher 9y ago
    Nice catch, I should have included the HERS Index. It's a decent standard with wide adoption.

dforrestwilson 9y ago

I built an Energy Star certified home in Georgia for maybe 5% more than the cost would have been otherwise. It's been a great rental since we left the area. Utility bills or estimated utility bills are the clearest way we have found to advertise the value to renters.

pcardoso 9y ago

This is already a thing at least here in Portugal. This is a energy efficiency certificate that is now mandatory when renting and selling a house: http://www.adene.pt/sites/default/files/documentos/certificado_adene_reh.v2.pdf http://www.adene.pt/sites/default/files/documentos/certifica... (PDF)

ptaipale 9y ago
All of EU, but in my opinion it's mostly a scam. Companies that perform this certification lobbied to make it mandatory whenever selling a house. However, the certificate does not tell you the real energy consumption. The calculation is based on "weighting factors" for whatever energy production format the politicians want to favor currently, so at least where I live, in Finland - where energy consumption really matters in the winter - when you buy a house, you pay for a certificate that is not very useful, and then you ask the previous owner for the actual energy bills he had, to asses the real cost and consumption. The latter is, of course, what everyone did already before this certificate system. OK, it's just a few hundred euros per sale. A bigger problem in the various energy saving initiatives is that houses built to this code sometimes develop very nasty air quality problems (due to air not changing in some places fast enough, or subtle leakages in the airtight balloon where you live) which then forces costly renovations and in the worst case destroy health.

FidelCashflow 9y ago

A blower door test is a great measure of a homes energy efficiency and it's quite cheap to have done. Not sure if YT links are OK but check out Matt Risinger Blower Door Test https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msZ_E-4GFs8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msZ_E-4GFs8

dx034 9y ago

In many parts of Europe (probably all of EU), energy consumption has to be given when renting out or selling homes. Often, they also have to be advertised for public buildings.

sarcher 9y ago

There are a couple of certification programs out there that are well regarded (with vary levels of real-world usage): Energy Star: https://www.energystar.gov/newhomes/ https://www.energystar.gov/newhomes/ Zero Energy Ready Homes: https://energy.gov/eere/buildings/zero-energy-ready-home https://energy.gov/eere/buildings/zero-energy-ready-home Passive House: http://www.phius.org/home-page http://www.phius.org/home-page LEED for Homes: https://www.usgbc.org/cert-guide/homes https://www.usgbc.org/cert-guide/homes And my favorite, the Pretty Good House: http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/pretty-good-house http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/guest-blogs/p... Honestly, if you're buying a new home and the builder hasn't ponied up for Energy Star, you've got to wonder where their priorities are - it's not a difficult program to achieve. You can find Energy Star builders here: https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=new_homes_partners.locator https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=new_homes_pa... I agree, there is little transparency on the home-buying front, largely because adherence to one of these certifications is still pretty rare. Also, it's rarely taken into account in the appraisal process.

cyguy 9y ago
There is also the HERS Index, which is probably the most popular: https://www.resnet.us/hers-index https://www.resnet.us/hers-index. 22% of homes received HERS Index Scores in 2016. It is a simple score that indicates the efficiency of a home. A score of 0 represents Net-Zero, and score of 100 represents a "typical home". If you're buying a home (and you care), you should ask if it has been HERS Rated and to see the HERS Certificate. Source for 22%: http://www.resnet.us/blog/national-renewable-energy-laboratory-research-finds-the-22-of-new-home-completed-in-the-u-s-in-2016-were-hers-rated/ http://www.resnet.us/blog/national-renewable-energy-laborato...
- sarcher 9y ago
  Nice catch, I should have included the HERS Index. It's a decent standard with wide adoption.