Austin Mayor Will Wynn to address NAHB’s Annual State & Local Government Affairs Conference
Austin Mayor Will Wynn will open the general session on green building at NAHB’s annual State & Local Government Affairs Conference held November 8 -10. Mr. Wynn serves as Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Energy Committee and played a crucial role in developing the Conference’s Climate Protection Agreement – of which nearly 600 cities across the
United States
have signed on to.
Austin
has taken an aggressive approach in reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and hopes to power 100 percent of
Austin
’s municipal facilities with renewable energy, such as solar or wind-driven power within five years.
Within eight years, every new home built in
Austin
will be required to be so energy efficient that, if an optional solar system is added to its roof, it will consume no more energy than it produces over the course of a year.
And by 2020, fully 30 percent of the city's total residential, commercial and industrial energy consumption is to be weaned from carbon dioxide-producing fossil fuels and shifted to clean, renewable sources.
Reducing what is known as the city's "carbon footprint" will come at a price, however, and raises the issue of affordability.
Wind power is currently cheaper than that from natural-gas plants, but because it is inherently intermittent, it can only supply a fraction of a city's energy needs. Meanwhile, "clean" solar power that doesn't produce greenhouse gases costs four times more than "dirty" coal power, which does.
And building the kind of completely energy-efficient house Austin intends to require by 2015 could raise its sale price more than 10 percent, a fact that has made home builders and real estate agents concerned about greener building codes.
"The
Austin
building community has been cutting-edge on green building for many years now, so we support and commend the mayor in this effort," said Harry Savio, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Austin. "But the real answer is that we don't know if these goals are achievable. There has to be payback on all these energy-efficient upgrades, because ultimately we have to be able to sell these houses."
Austin
officials say they are confident they can meet their pioneering goal of powering nearly a third of the city's energy from renewable sources by 2020.
For more information, contact Carlos Gutierrez at 800-368-5242 x8242.
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