We-Connect e-Source - 07/22/2009 (Plain Text Version)

View Graphical Version | Subscribe to NAHB Publications | Email our Editor...
NAHB Home Page| Browse other NAHB e-publications |Search back issues

In this issue:
Builder Confidence Rises Two Points In July
Housing Starts and Permits Up Strongly in June
Residential Housing Outlook
Faulty Appraisals Harming Housing and the Economy
Women in Business Report
NAHB Suggests Improvements for WaterSense Certification
The NAHB Bulletin
Useful Links to Monitor Economic and Housing Trends

NAHB Suggests Improvements for WaterSense Certification

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released the final version of its WaterSense new home certification system as part of its planned WaterSense New Homes program for homes built to use 20% less water than conventional new construction.

The system outlines the procedures home builders must follow to apply for the WaterSense label using the specifications for appliances, fixtures, storm water management and irrigation now under review by federal officials.

NAHB recently submitted official comments on the WaterSense specifications, calling for the EPA to simplify the administrative process and to align the program with the requirements of existing green building programs, thereby removing more barriers to its use.

When final, the WaterSense certification will apply to newly constructed single-family homes and townhomes, three stories or less in size.

Last month, the NAHB Research Center unveiled changes to the green building scoring tool at www.nahbgreen.org to allow home builders to participate in the Department of Energy’s Builders Challenge energy efficiency program while simultaneously scoring their projects to the National Green Building Standard.

Builders Challenge homes must be constructed to be 50% more energy-efficient than standard building codes and are designed to showcase technologies and building systems that eventually will lead to affordable, zero-energy homes by 2030.

A similar approach allowing double certification would boost participation in WaterSense certification, NAHB said.

“By streamlining the cost and administrative effort needed to participate in the WaterSense program and aligning it with a program that many home builders have already embraced, the EPA can broaden the program‘s appeal among those who may otherwise be reticent to incorporate an additional voluntary conservation initiative without compromising the stringency or prestige of the WaterSense for Homes label,” the comments said.

The same tactic can also be used when defining requirements for storm water management, including low-impact development techniques such as rainwater collection, the use of pervious pavements and other practices.

“The WaterSense for New Homes initiative is an ideal venue for encouraging builders to be creative and proactive about incorporating long-term storm water mitigation strategies into projects on a voluntary basis,” the NAHB comments said.

However, WaterSense might gain more participants if these strategies were aligned with the land development requirements of the National Green Building Standard, the comments said. In the standard, builders earn points by incorporating vegetative swales, French drains, wetlands, drywells and rain gardens into their projects.

EPA representatives participated in the development of the standard, which was approved by the American National Standards Institute in January 2009.

NAHB also included an important caution to the EPA . “Before requiring any of these items, EPA should fully consider the various water rights issues that would be raised as a result of diverting or otherwise using storm water runoff, as well as the many geological, geographical, meteorological, topographical and climatological factors that can affect the options available for directing and managing storm water flow on a given lot,” the comments said.

“Alternatively, it could take an approach similar to that found in the standard and make certain practices voluntary or interchangeable,” NAHB said.

NAHB also suggested that the EPA expand the voluntary program so that the certification adds value to home sales. “Once the home is sold, the certification becomes essentially moot. As an alternative and added incentive, NAHB suggests that the EPA develop or incorporate a low-cost methodology to recertify homes that have earned WaterSense certifications so that the certification can convey upon resale of a home,” the comments said.

“Otherwise, consumers spending the $1,000 to $3,000 (based upon EPA estimates) for a WaterSense qualified home cannot ascribe that cost to the real market value of the home, even if most or all of the qualifying features remain intact. NAHB is concerned that builders will be reticent to participate in a voluntary program that cannot translate into resalable value,” the comments said.

NAHB looks forward to working with the EPA to refine the certification program and encourage builders to participate, the comments said.

“NAHB‘s involvement in sponsoring and promoting the standard is indicative of the association‘s long-standing commitment to proactively address many environmental and land use issues and reduce the overall environmental footprint of home building,” NAHB said.

For more information, e-mail Calli Schmidt at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8132.