Energy Efficiency in Buildings Behavioral Issues (1985) / Chapter Skim
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5. Home Energy Ratings
5. Home Energy Ratings
Pages 64-78
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From page 64... ...
, the most significant barriers they face are funding, inadequate involvement among some sponsor groups, and low levels of consumer awareness. It is essential to keep in mind that the goal of a rating is to affect the decisions of home purchasers, builders, real estate agents, primary and secondary mortgage lenders, and other intended audiences so that energy efficiency is reflected in 64
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From page 65... ...
Thus, an ideal rating system must be intelligible to home builders, primary and secondary mortgage lenders, appraisers, real estate agents, retrofit contractors, and the buyers, sellers, and occupants of homes. It must be relevant to decisions about building design, financing, retrofitting, advertising, and purchase.
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From page 66... ...
QUESTIONS ABOUT DESIGNING RATINGS In What Units Should a Rating be Presented? Home energy ratings have been expressed in energy units, in dollars, and on var ious arbitrary scales .
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From page 67... ...
We know of only one empirical effort to examine user response to alternative units for use in home energy ratings. In a pilot project in Massachusetts, a home rating system was developed for use in the RCS energy audit program (Ackerman et al., 1983~.
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From page 68... ...
Ratings in dollars are easy for people to interpret, although they can lead to unrealistic expectations of predictive accuracy because homeowners will compare ratings with actual energy bills, which are affected by weather and occupant behavior. Arbitrary scales promise less, but tend to be less meaningful.
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From page 69... ...
If an energy rating is to encompass more than space and water heating, careful thought, technical research, and assessment of user reactions should precede introduction of the rating. QUESTIONS ABOUT IMPLEMENTING RATING PROGRAMS Technically adequate ratings have no effect unless they are delivered to users in a way that encourages their use in decision making.
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From page 70... ...
Real estate appraisers are motivated to accurately assess market prices, so may be good candidates if a rating system can be made convenient for them. However, unless energy ratings are used by banks in their lending decisions or appraisers conclude that energy-efficient homes are worth more, appraisers may be reluctant to conduct energy ratings.
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From page 71... ...
Home energy rating systems can become effective in various ways: they can be used directly by home purchasers in making decisions; homeowners, developers, and real estate agents can use them to help advertise energy-efficient homes; they can add value to energyefficient homes if used by appraisers; they can make homes salable at higher prices if bankers use them in calculating total cost of ownership and in setting mortgage limits; and operators of home retrofit programs might use them to market their services. In short, rating systems operate in a complex institutional environment, in which it is not immediately clear whether any particular institutionts acceptance is the key.
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From page 72... ...
Real estate agents have been reluctant to take the lead on home energy ratings. In Pennsylvania, where a state survey found that 85 percent of residents believed that energy efficiency would be an important consideration in selecting their next home and 90 percent felt a home energy labeling program would encourage people to select energy efficient homes, real estate brokers believed that the customers did not want ratings (Gallagher and Desmond, 1984~.
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From page 73... ...
DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE HOME ENERGY RATING SYSTEMS It is not possible to offer precise prescriptions for a home energy rating system. Just like a new technology, an energy rating system requires research, development, and demonstration before an effective model is widely accepted.
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From page 74... ...
When the field of possible rating systems is narrowed, field tests should use only one rating design per housing market because using several designs at once will confuse real estate agents, lenders, and others who will see ratings of many different homes. In ratings delivered with energy audits, the sponsor of the audit will make a difference.
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From page 75... ...
Requests for ratings, including information as to whether the requests are coming from developers of new buildings, homeowners planning to sell or to retrofit, real estate agents, appraisers, or others; (3) Mention of ratings in advertising by real estate agents or mortgage lenders; (4)
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From page 76... ...
To assess effects in either the new or existing housing market requires a full energy audit of a sample of rated and unrated homes. To assess contagion to builders and homeowners who do not use ratings, it would be useful to evaluate improvements in energy efficiency in comparison with another area.
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From page 77... ...
The best strategy for implementation is to gain the cooperation of the range of actors that will be affected with a rating system: mortgage lenders, builders, real estate agents, appraisers, homeowners and buyers, retrofit contractors, and the sponsors of home energy audit programs. Which of these groups is most critical depends on who will be conducting ratings and on whether the primary target of the system is the new home market, the home resale market, or home retrofits.
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From page 78... ...
.. marketse To date, no home energy rating system has been carefully evaluated to determine whether it produces the results it is designed for: increasing the salability and market price of energy-efficient homes and increasing the energy efficiency of new and existing housing stock.
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