The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) asserts that the best hopes for achieving more energy conservation in the home lie in voluntary, consumer-oriented, market-driven programs and technological advances that conserve energy without adding costs for new home buyers.
Homes built today are 100% more energy efficient than homes built in the 1970s because of two factors: voluntary programs that make it easy for builders to promote conservation to home buyers, and new housing-construction materials that help save on energy use. NAHB recently took promoting energy efficiency a step further by introducing voluntary Model Green Home Building Guidelines, which highlight environmentally-friendly building techniques while still placing a premium on affordability.
Nationwide, roughly 61,000 homes were built using local green building program guidelines from 1990-2004. In 2004 alone, more than 14,000 green homes were constructed.
According to Building Greener, Building Better: The Quiet Revolution, a booklet published by NAHB and the NAHB Research Center, homes have achieved better energy efficiency over the past 23 years due to advances in building materials, products and practices, including:
- Local and state green building programs that promote more efficient heating and cooling systems, improved construction methods, and sensible lot design and planning;
- Insulated exterior doors and windows; use of insulated doors increased from 44% in 1978 to 85.2% in 1999, while use of insulated steel doors increased from 35.9% to 87% in 1999;
- Foundation insulation, which reduces energy loss in one of the last remaining major “sinks” in the home and provides warmer, more comfortable floors;
- Appliances and plumbing fixtures that conserve water and require less energy for heating needs;
- High-efficiency refrigerators that conserve more energy than older models and rely on refrigerants that have much less impact on the ozone layer;
- Dishwashers that use 40% less energy and clothes washers that use 45% less than models manufactured in 1972; and
- Passive solar design that captures the sun’s rays to provide “free” heat.
Building Greener, Building Better: The Quiet Revolution and NAHB's Model Green Home Building Guidelines are available online.
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