In their Feb. 10 IBSx education session “Demystifying Zero: Builders Share their Secrets for Cost-Effective Zero Net Energy Homes,” speakers Todd Usher of Addison Homes, Tim O’Brien of Tim O’Brien Homes, Anthony Maschmedt of Dwell Development, and author Sam Rashkin will talk about energy-efficient design and construction that doesn’t have to break the bank.
To get a preview of what might be covered, BUILDER spoke with industry veteran Rashkin about the basics of the Zero Energy Ready movement, how production builders should approach net zero, and what challenges still lie ahead. See his responses below.
BUILDER: Why should all industry players, including builders, architects, and manufacturers, be focused on the zero movement?
Rashkin: Because the train has left the station. Over 28,000 homes in the U.S. and Canada have been certified to Zero Energy Ready programs. Over a dozen states and local governments are actively implementing or planning zero energy residential building codes. About 10 states and local governments have committed to zero carbon goals for buildings by 2030. The movement is well underway, and industry laggards usually don’t do well.
BUILDER: How have the ideas and practices evolved and changed over the past couple of years?
Rashkin: Mostly industry leaders are rapidly climbing the learning curve, optimizing both technical and marketing solutions with significant bottom-line business benefits. Thus, the biggest changes are the high-performing builders are getting faster, leaner, and better. One other change of note is the huge increased interest in healthy homes that perfectly aligns with Zero Energy Ready homes.
BUILDER: What are some of the most cost-effective ways of reducing a home’s energy consumption today?
Rashkin: The basics still hold true. Optimize the enclosure first by building to the latest national energy code, the 2021 IECC. This is a significant opportunity to build homes that will not be obsolete or illegal to build in a few years. Then, ensure all components (e.g., equipment, appliances, lighting, and fans) are high efficiency, including the Energy Star label where available.
BUILDER: What steps should production builders take first on the road to building net zero?
Rashkin: Steps for net zero begin with finding an architect/designer with solid high-performance home experience. Then, set up an integrated team, including all key decision-makers on the project and even key trades to work with the design team optimizing solutions that best align with construction constraints. This includes a comfort system especially engineered for ultra-load homes, comprehensive indoor air quality improvements, including materials with low/no contaminants, whole-house ventilation, and high-capture filtration. And solar-ready construction where photovoltaics is not included to ensure it can be added in the future with no cost penalty or disruption. Finally, verify compliance with a program like Zero Energy Ready Home with a HERS rater and ensure quality work by the trades.
BUILDER: What are the biggest challenges the industry needs to overcome?
Rashkin: There are tens-of-thousands of zero energy and Zero Energy Ready homes. The industry has empirically proven they are technically feasible and cost-effective. The biggest remaining industry challenges are getting fair financing and accurate appraisals. Zero Energy Ready homes provide significant risk reduction for underwriters with lower costs for ownership, maintenance, and health that yield much higher disposable income.
Moreover, they are positioned to provide higher future value by meeting and exceeding forthcoming codes and consumer expectations. The bottom line is that these homes have more value and are much more likely to deliver a timely mortgage payment. Consider that hundreds of Zero Energy Ready homes have been documented to save $30,000 to $150,000 on utility bills over a 20-year mortgage term. Health savings can also add up to $30,000 to $40,000 over this time frame. Yet, these homes are charged the same mortgage interest rate as minimum code and low-performance existing homes even though they have substantially less risk. In other words, they are overcharged since mortgages are priced based on the risk of collecting payment.
The second biggest industry challenge is getting accurate appraisals that reflect all the added value of Zero Energy Ready homes. Appraisers are not compensated or trained adequately to account for this value.
BUILDER: In terms of green standards, what certification program or organization provides great resources and help for interested builders?
Rashkin: There is a huge array of resources for builders interested in high-performance homes. The U.S. Department of Energy has the Building America Solution Center, which is a huge repository of great information for applying high-performance home best practices. The Energy and Environmental Building Alliance (EEBA) has tremendous resources for builders including training programs, conferences, and guidance. And Construction Instruction is a private sector web and app resource with outstanding training and videos for high-performance best practices.
In addition, most high-performance home certification programs have excellent resources for marketing and selling homes including the Zero Energy Ready Home program. For a full list of high-performance programs with excellent resources, visit EEBA Team Zero, which has a full list of programs at every step on the path to zero carbon homes.
To learn more on high-performance home tactics, tune into Rashkin's IBSx session "Demystifying Zero: Builders Share their Secrets for Cost-Effective Zero Net Energy Homes" on Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 11 a.m. EST.
