Residential Energy Star Programs

WHAT ARE THE RESIDENTIAL ENERGY STAR PROGRAMS?

The Residential Energy Star Programs are market-based efforts in which the United States Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) works with organizations to prevent pollution at a profit in the residential sector. Partners and allies voluntarily join these programs and make all decisions based on their own business objectives. Partners and allies typically provide market infrastructure for energy efficiency and/or technology implementation. EPA supplies technical and marketing support and facilitates financing linked to Energy Star homes and products. EPA also strives to provide strong public recognition for partners as industry leaders.

WHAT ARE THE SPECIFIC RESIDENTIAL ENERGY STAR PROGRAMS?

Energy Star New Homes

EPA will work with builders to build new homes that are at least 30 percent more efficient than the 1992 Model Energy Code(MEC). The goal is to achieve 10 percent market share by the year 2000 and 100 percent market share by 2010. This effort is in a pilot stage.

Builders supply EPA with a copy of their building plans. EPA then evaluates and makes recommendations for energy efficiency improvements that meet the 30 percent performance target without altering the home's appearance. To meet the performance targets, EPA provides flexibility to builders in choosing the upgrades that are most cost effective. Qualifying builders are permitted and encouraged to use the Energy Star_ logo and offer home buyers access to a variety of financing options linked to Energy Star Homes.

Energy Star Products

EPA is working with a wide variety of utility, product distribution, retail, and government procurement organizations to form partnerships to market and sell Energy Star Products. Products that meet specific target performance levels(the top 20% of energy efficiency) are rewarded with the "Energy Star" label. The program goal is for high-efficiency equipment and appliances to achieve 15 to 30 percent market share by 2000 and 100 percent market share by 2010. The overall program goal is to achieve major upgrades in 50 percent of all homes by 2010.

 

Innovative Financing

The key to this program is innovative financing that provides long-term, no-down-payment loans to consumers where net monthly energy savings exceed the monthly loan payments, thus Energy Star upgrades are profitable for the consumer from day one.

 

Energy Star Billing

EPA will work with interested utilities to enhance their billing format with customer feedback to motivate homeowners to pursue cost-effective energy efficiency upgrades. Specifically, EPA works with utilities to include a label (placed directly on or attached to utility bills) with relative energy consumption per house data, similar to the sliding scale provided on appliances. The label informs customers about how their home's energy consumption compares to all other utility customers. After a low initial setup cost, utilities can maintain this valuable customer feedback program with minimal cost and continuously stimulate demand for a wide range of profitable customer service programs.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF RESIDENTIAL ENERGY STAR PROGRAMS?

EPA's residential programs provide a sustainable process for transforming the residential marketplace to more efficient existing and new housing in addition to preventing pollution. These programs will provide opportunities for numerous groups. including the following:

• Homeowners will have more comfortable, safer, and higher quality homes with substantially reduced operating costs;
• New Home builders will sell more homes as they'll be able to further distinguish their new products at not extra out-of-packet costs to home buyers;
• Home improvement industry will have a wide array of new products and services they can offer profitably;
• Utilities will move from rebate programs to low-cost programs that provide valued customer services highly suited to forthcoming competitive markets; and
• Products manufacturers, distributors, and vendors will have expanded markets and increased sales of their high-efficiency products.

WHAT IS THE ENERGY STAR HOME PROGRAM AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is creating partnerships with home builders to profitably develop new homes that use 30 percent less energy than homes built to the standards in the current Model Energy Code (MEC). This voluntary program provides recommendations to builders about how to improve a home's energy efficiency and performance without forcing significant changes to popular housing designs.

Through EPA's Energy Star Home Program, builders have access to the following:

• Attractive financing options for Energy Star Home purchasers, which means no increased down payment and lower monthly expenses;
• Use of the Energy Star logo on qualifying homes;
• Marketing and advertising support; and
• Public recognition for providing environmentally sound homes.

Buyers of Energy Star Homes receive superior quality construction, improved comfort by reducing drafts and "hot-spots," improved indoor air quality, lower monthly operating costs, better access to mortgage financing, higher resale values, and the knowledge that they are contributing to a cleaner environment.

WHAT IS EPA's GOAL?

EPA's goal is to make Energy Star Homes synonymous with high-quality, safe, comfortable, and environmentally responsive homes that consumers can choose with confidence.

Contact us at plupson@acca-ncc.org

© 1996 ACCA-NCC

Last Updated: June 11, 2001
Updated By: PSL