Market Barriers:
For a home to earn the Northwest ENERGY STAR label, it must be at least 15 percent more energy-efficient than the state’s building code standard. On average, a Northwest ENERGY STAR labeled house uses 30 to 50 percent less energy and saves a homeowner $400 annually on their utility bill. Despite these benefits, in 2007, only 4.5% of new homes being constructed in the Northwest were ENERGY STAR qualified.
NEEA Action:
With support from its utility partners and state agencies, NEEA has helped implement residential building code upgrades across the region and trained building professionals on existing energy codes. Since 1996, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana have all adopted more energy-efficient codes for new homes, leading to long-term savings for the region.
NEEA’s overall strategy for driving market transformation in the housing market is to use voluntary programs, like Northwest ENERGY STAR, to gain significant market share for new energy-efficient technologies and practices; and then work to implement code upgrades to lock in those savings and expand them to all new construction.
An example of NEEA’s code work success is in Oregon, where it collaborated with the Oregon Department of Energy (ODOE) in 2007 to drive new standards for Oregon’s residential building code. The change will reduce new home energy use by 15 percent. The new code, which takes effect in April 2008, is the strictest energy code in the nation for new homes.
With this code change, all new homes built in Oregon must achieve roughly the same energy savings as homes that currently qualify for the Northwest ENERGY STAR label. Going from 12 percent of homes built to 100 percent will help the state meet its climate change goal of 15 percent overall energy savings by 2015.
Regional Impact:
Overall, 20 percent of Northwest energy savings since 1987 can be attributed to code upgrades, and every state continues to make upgrades. Oregon’s 2008 code change is expected to reduce about 800,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. In addition, Idaho and Montana are planning to adopt improved commercial and residential codes in 2008 and 2009, respectively, and Washington State is expected to adopt new code by 2010.
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Market Barriers
- 4.5% of new Northwest homes earned the ENERGY STAR label in 2007
- Homebuilders resistant to code changes
- Code change process lengthy and complicated
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Regional Results
- Code upgrades account for 20% of NW energy savings since 1987
- OR 2008 code change will reduce about 800,000 tons of CO2 emissions by 2025
- ID and MT to adopt new codes in 2008 and 2009, respectively
- Washington expected to adopt new code by 2010
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