ENERGY STAR~(~R) Labeled Homes Evolving with State Energy Codes: Ensuring Success in a Changing Context

摘要

ENERGY STAR Labeled Homes is experiencing tremendous growth. In 2000, more homes were labeled than in the prior five years combined. In 2001, the number of homes nearly doubled from 2000. Large corporate builders have made public commitments to implement ENERGY STAR across all divisions. Manufactured housing participation has grown exponentially in just a few years with 75 plants currently certified or being certified to produce ENERGY STAR labeled homes. This represents over one-third of the approximately 185 manufactured housing plants currently producing about 185,000 HUD-code homes. Market penetration of labeled homes is exceeding 10 percent in at least five major markets, including over 25 percent in two markets, and over fifty utility partners are providing a wide range of support to keep this growth going. It would be great to just sit back and reap the rewards. But we can't. External forces continually act on the program that demand a response. One of the most critical forces involves revisions to state building codes that increase energy efficiency requirements. Where state energy codes start approximating ENERGY STAR performance levels, the 'brand' integrity is threatened because ENERGY STAR fails to deliver on its promise of significantly higher energy efficiency than code compliance. This paper will document efforts to benchmark the ENERGY STAR labeled homes threshold against several state building codes and provide an example where the threshold was changed in one state to ensure ENERGY STAR labeled homes continues to represent a meaningful improvement in energy efficiency.