When energy efficiency became a buzz phrase in the homebuilding industry more than a decade ago, contractor Michael DeCesare wanted to know what all the hype was about. So he built one—an energy efficient home— for himself.
Now, after living in his eco-friendly home on Sandy Point in Portsmouth for 10 years, he’s a true believer. On top of lower maintenance costs and savings of more than 30 percent on utility bills, DeCesare – who is able to keep his thermostat dialed in at a comfy 62 degrees – says he just feels better.
“There’s no question that the quality of life is better in an energy efficient home,” said DeCesare, owner of DeCesare Building Co. in Providence. “It’s just more comfortable. You don’t feel lethargic or doze off after dinner. But it’s hard to explain the benefits to people, because they’re so used to the old way.”
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In recent years, however, the popularity of energy efficient homebuilding in Rhode Island and Massachusetts has been spreading.
National Grid, parent company of Narragansett Electric and Massachusetts Electric, started an incentive program four years ago to entice builders to construct homes that conserve energy through tighter insulation and better ventilation. National Grid offers homebuyers and builders incentives of up to $2,000 for homes that meet standards under Energy Star, a conservation program managed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The National Grid program is financed through a legislatively mandated conservation charge paid by every ratepayer in Rhode Island. That money – about $1.15 per month for the average residential electricity customer – funds several conservation and renewable-energy efforts in the state.
After a slow start, the program is catching on. More than 200 Energy Star homes have been built in Rhode Island so far this year, compared to just 50 in 2001. Jerry Hanna, manager of the Energy Star Homes program for National Grid in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, said he expects more than 300 Energy Star homes to be built in the Rhode Island next year.
“Once a builder learns how to do this, it can be a profit center for them,” Hanna said. “They can use it as part of their marketing package, to differentiate themselves from the guy building a subdivision down the street.”
National Grid contracts with Conservation Services Group (CSG), a Westborough, Mass.-based firm, to counsel builders and subcontractors on how to meet the stringent Energy Star specifications.
CSG takes homebuilders’ architectural and engineering plans and plugs them into a computer model, to see if the end result will meet requirements. After recommending changes where necessary, the company follows up with at least two on-site inspections to assure that the house is being sealed and insulated tightly – the hallmark of an Energy Star home.
“There has been this longstanding urban myth that you have to let a house breathe,” said John Livermore, manager of the Energy Star Homes program for Conservation Services Group. “But a house doesn’t know how to breathe. You want to make the building shell as tight as possible, and then provide mechanical ventilation.”
Once completed, CSG does a final inspection, including what’s called a “blower door test,” which uses a fan to depressurize the house in order to measure for air leaks.
That test, combined with other technical measurements, determines a “House Energy Rating” of 1 to 100. Energy codes in the Northeast generally require ratings of 80 to 83, Livermore said. An Energy Star home requires a rating of 86. (Every one point represents about a 5 percent increase in efficiency. By that measure, Energy Star homes are about 15 to 30 percent more efficient than a conventionally constructed home, he said).
Building to Energy Star specifications is not cheap, however. It tacks on roughly 3 percent in construction costs, Livermore estimates, though he stresses that that is a difficult figure to peg. Builders who do high-quality work spend less upgrading to meet the standards than less-reputable contractors who barely build up to code.
Regardless, contractors can recoup some costs through the $2,000 in incentives offered by National Grid, which includes $500 for cash to any home that qualifies, as well as $500 toward the cost of certification. Builders and homebuyers also are eligible for $1,000 worth of rebates for using Energy Star appliances, such as refrigerators and dishwashers.
Still, building an Energy Star Home “is not like building a conventional home, period,” said DeCesare, who has worked on a half dozen energy efficient homes since building his own. “Anyone who says ‘Oh, the costs aren’t that much,’ – that’s baloney.”
His own house has 8-inch-thick walls (twice the standard thickness) and expensive, high-grade insulation. It also has an “air-to-air exchange system,” which uses exhaust air – from appliances like the washer/dryer, oven and a hot tub – to heat up a coiling system that then warms fresh, outside air being pulled in from the house’s ventilation system.
(DeCesare built his home to comply with the RISE program, or Rhode Islanders Saving Energy, which was a private, nonprofit group that preceded the Energy Star Homes program).
DeCesare says the added costs for energy efficiency standards are more like 5 percent to as much as 20 percent of overall construction costs. And cost isn’t the only hurdle: He said he often has to switch subcontractors because his regular ones aren’t familiar with conservation techniques.
“It can become extremely challenging,” he said. “And when they come to inspect, that final test is not forgiving. There is no room for cheating.”
To find out about technical standards for Energy Star homes, visit www.energystarhomes.com/faqs/Tech_standards.pdf.
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