Thursday, February 17, 2005
Barriers to Energy-Efficient Housing
Two recent columns at Newsday, The Case for Energy-efficient New Homes and Warming up to Energy-Efficient Houses, discuss the costs and some barriers to building energy saving homes.Most, but definitely not all, home buyers do not have energy usage on their mind when having a house built. Larger priorities are three car garages, granite countertops. This can be attributed to lack of knowledge on the consumers' part; the information is not widely available. Additionally, builders truly are resistant to change; they like to stick to the familiar. The perception that these homes are drastically more expensive is also persistant.
The results can make a believer out of most homeowners: proven annual utility costs of $500-$600. About 1 million homes are being built each year here; only 1% of them are being built in this manner.
This article highlights the architecture firm of Chaleff and Rogers Architects, who have specialized in this type of homebuilding for about 30 years.