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Cool Customers

Today’s buyer wants an energy-efficient home, and more local builders are getting with the program

The Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program has become a symbol, as well as a practical measure, of this new concern. It was introduced in 1992 to rate computers. Now, in partnership with 1,600 manufacturers, it labels more than 11,000 consumer products based on energy efficiency. In 1995, the EPA devised a rating system for new homes - now 40,000 homes by 1,000 builders display an Energy Star sticker on their breaker boxes. In the survey, 61 percent felt that this certification should be standard for new homes. Among the builders surveyed, only 35 percent said they offer Energy Star homes, but the figure was 24 percent a year earlier.

Local building departments base new-home approval on federally mandated 1992 codes that offer some energy savings, but Energy Star homes exceed these. The EPA’s seal of approval is given to those that better the energy efficiency of a 1993 Model Energy Code by at least 30 percent.

This can be accomplished in a variety of ways. Rob Hammon, principal of ConSol, a building consulting firm that served as technical adviser to the EPA in drawing up the program, says the two major methods are: spectrally selective glass (SSG - often referred to by the trade name “Low-E” - which reflects much of the sun’s infrared energy in summer and helps maintain heat within during the winter) and tight ducts (typical homes have 20 to 30 percent duct leakage - and duct tape is not the answer).

You’ll find great detail about all aspects of the program at www.energystar.gov. The EPA gives consumers home audit checklists and rosters of products and providers. Home appliance products often feature rebates. Mortgage companies also partner with the EPA. One in our area, Chase Manhattan Mortgage Las Vegas offers $500 off closing costs for an Energy Star home purchase.

You can click on the EPA’s map to get Nevada info, or you may go to a Nevada-specific site, http://nevadaenergystarhomes.com. There you’ll learn that the $2,000 extra for Energy Star features will actually save you money in the long run - adding $15 to mortgage payments, but reducing energy costs by $35 a month. You will also generate considerable savings over the years through fewer repair and replacement costs. And when it’s time to move on, Energy Star designation may result in a higher resale value, as much as $8,000

The Guarantee

Pulte Homes features the “Environments for Living” (EFL) program, in which the “Gold” level exceeds Energy Star requirements. Eleven of the twelve current Pulte developments here are in an even higher category, “Platinum.”

“All our homes use the ‘cocoon’ system,” says David Beck, Pulte’s vice president for construction. The entire house, including plumbing, wiring and ducts, becomes encapsulated by a shell and blown-in cellulose insulates and fills cracks and gaps to form a “thermal envelope.” The duct-laden attic also becomes part of the conditioned home, with insulation-wrapped top and sides and the air vents eliminated.

The platinum level of EFL adds $1,200 to $1,500 to the cost of the home, Beck says, but the energy savings payback is quick. The developer/designer of EFL, Masco Contractor Services, stands behind this promise with a two-year guarantee that energy costs for the home will not exceed a specified dollar amount. “In the last several years,” Beck says, “we have had only three or four homes where we’ve had to go in and make corrections.” Last year, Pulte built 853 homes here.

As with all Energy Star homes, certification is awarded after rigorous inspection by independent Home Energy Rating System (HERS) providers. Pulte’s testing is done by Energy Information Center Corporation, a national concern with home offices in Pennsylvania. On a recent day, Rob Stavreff was testing the ducts of a newly framed home. Later in the building process, he will use the “blower door” test to detect any air leakage in the shell. Stavreff, who tests for several builders, says the type of insulation (fiberglass or cellulose) is not as important as its correct installation - eliminating gaps, sealing the areas around windows, doors, electrical outlets, pipes. Of his experience with Pulte, he says, “One hundred percent come flying through. If there is a minor problem, the superintendent is right there, it’s fixed immediately, and I re-test.”

In similar fashion, Pardee Homes uses the ComfortWise system developed by Stockton, California-based ConSol. Again the spectrally selective glass is a key ingredient, providing a 40 percent reduction in air-conditioning requirements. The system exceeds the 30 percent Energy Star requirement in a number of ways, Hammon says. He is not yet satisfied with the cocoon system, though, and says that the number one challenge remains “finding a cost-effective way to put ducts in conditioned space.”

ConSol, with about one-fourth of its clientele in Southern Nevada, also provides the HERS testing service. The careful inspections at the rough and final stages - including not just the upgrades but the entire system, Hammon says - are key to the system’s success. “We have never failed a home yet. Every single home will be done right.” Much of this depends on ConSol-provided training for the installers, foremen and superintendents. And there are sessions for the sales agents. “We want to get a lot of information to the buyer.”

Besides the glass, air-tight sealing and duct protection, there are other matters - some big, some seemingly small - that vary among Valley builders and that the consumer should consider: design and sizing of the heating and air conditioning units, computer controlled zoning, two-by-six studs to permit thicker insulation, vinyl window frames (much better than aluminum), roof overhangs to shade windows and walls, and a patio cover with solar screens.

The next step is being promoted by the Department of Energy’s “Build America” program. “It’s trying to help builders figure out how to reduce energy usage by as much as 50 percent without increasing building costs, “ Hammon says. Pulte Homes was an early participant, using such techniques as the cocoon, SSG and other innovative features in cooperation with the DOE to produce prototype housing. “It has worked,” Beck says, “and we follow through with all our homes.” There is a ways to go, though. Beck estimates that less than 10 percent of homes in the Valley would meet the Energy Star level, let alone the Build America standard.

Utility companies have a major role to play in our energy situation. And though their job is to sell energy, they are now placed in the position of promoting its reduced, more efficient use. Southwest Gas was recognized by the EPA as an “Energy Star Partner of the Year” in 2000 - one of only two utilities nationwide so honored - for efforts encouraging home builders to join the program. But, says spokesman Roger Buehrer, “Though we are still interested, we have relinquished our leadership role here.”

Nevada Power is stepping into the breech. This makes sense: So much of our energy consumption results from electricity-driven air conditioning (and Nevada Power, in light of recent developments, could use the positive public relations). It began gearing up for the challenge a year ago with creation of the “Take Control” team (Department of Energy Efficiency and Conservation). According to spokesman Edgar Patino, its staff of 28 has been focused “where we have seen the greatest need - seniors and low-income people in existing homes.” They have been offering tips, appliance recommendations and home-energy audits. (More details at www.nevadapower.com - click on “Take Control.”) there is only so far to go with older homes, though, and the cost of completely retrofitting them is prohibitive. Now, Patino says, “We’ve joined the Nevada Energy Star New Home Partners and are ready for the next step.”

Homes Of The Future

“This project will really change the thinking in Las Vegas,” says local architect Eric Strain. He would like to see more innovation, experimentation by production builders and more demand for this by consumers. He has such a project under way in Boulder City: a 3,000-square-foot concrete house designed at the urging of clients who wanted it appropriate to desert living - and their pocket book. The walls will be constructed of seven-foot-wide, variable-height precast panels six inches of styrofoam sandwiched between two-inch layers of concrete producing an “R-value” of 30 (normal here is R-19). The outside will be acid washed for effect, while the inside provides smooth finishable walls. To further reduce heating and cooling costs, concrete floors provide thermal mass, and the house is sited with all windows on the north and east elevations. To top it off, the construction cost, Strain says, is half that of normal wood-frame construction.

A local firm, Precast Management, manufactures the panels and has been shipping them to Colorado for home construction. But the idea is catching on here. A large wall of the new visitors center at the Old Mormon Fort will be made of these panels. Strain is asking UNLV to consider using them in the addion to the student center, and the North Las Vegas Housing Authority is looking at their use.

ConSol looks toward the future with two main efforts: a solar hot-water system, which has become “quite simple, but is still a bit expensive,” Hammon says; and solar electric or photovoltaic power. The later, according to the NAHB Research Center, is nearing a breakthrough for home use. Photovoltaic modules can now be integrated into roofing materials so that they are barely noticeable. A roof with a small system will produce enough electricity from solar energy to operate several home functions. With “very large systems,” says the Research Center, all home needs could be met and “eliminate” the need for connection to the utility company.”

The system would not have to be large, though, to power the concrete house, nor the one espoused by State Senator Michael Schneider - a straw house. No, not the little pig’s kind, but one made of straw bales. He says the idea goes back 100 years to western Nebraska but is finding builder acceptance in modern-day New Mexico and Arizona. Pour a slab of concrete, stack hay bales like huge bricks with rebar running through for support, use box framing for doors and windows, plaster the inside, stucco the outside. Voila. The 27-inch-thick walls will exceed R-50, says, Schneider. “They’re off the computer models. When I first went inside one it felt very different - no wind penetration, totally sound-proof, no cold or heat coming off the walls.”

He describes one straw bale home in the San Diego area built around a huge rock - the thermal mass being the only heating and cooling system the house requires. There are three straw-bale dwellings in our Valley and several in northern Nevada. Schneider plans to get his one under way in a couple of years. Though the cost is about the same as a two-by-four frame house (because of the labor-intensive plastering), he looks forward to low utility bills and doing his part in the green effort. “The U.S. produces enough straw annually to build five million 2,000-square-foot homes,” Schneider says. “The farmers could turn this into a cash crop.

And that ain’t hay.

By Christopher Hagen

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