Insights from the 2011 Alliance Annual Meeting
The Alliance Meeting’s Codes and Standards presentation, by IBACOS CTO Brad Oberg and Dean Potter, VP of K. Hovnanian’s Quality and Home Production Process, pointed out a hard truth: ENERGY STAR v. 3 is due to kick in for some new homes January 1, 2012, and most builders there agreed they had a lot of work to do if they hoped to meet that deadline.
But there was good news, too. Builders were taking a variety of actions to get ready for the new standard, and to prepare for increases in codes due to occur in many states. Some were using the work they were doing for ENERGY STAR to bring them up to speed, while others said they were keeping ahead of the curve, with a view toward even more stringent changes in the future.
Below we cover the variety of key actions Alliance builders told us they were taking, including various kinds of research, collaborations with third parties, changes in their design and engineering processes, and market positioning.
Last, we’ll touch on the biggest challenges builders identified, as well as the big A-ha moments that have come out of the process of preparing for these changes.
Research
Performance Benchmarking/Testing
One of the most popular actions Alliance builders are taking to prepare for code and standard changes is benchmarking, since you can’t know where you’re going if you can’t see clearly where you are now. Almost 50% of the builders in attendance mentioned some kind of benchmarking as an action they are taking to prepare.
Blower door and duct blasting are the two most popular testing tools. Wayne Homes does duct blasting in every house, saying that builders “often don’t realize how leaky their ducts are.” Darling Homes does blower door testing on all their houses. Imagine Homes said they have been doing both tests “forever,” and Keystone said their trades are starting to do the tests themselves. S&A said they also use thermal imaging to pinpoint problems.
Builders mentioned working with appraisers and third party raters (for example, getting RESNET independent ratings of their homes), using ENERGY STAR checklists to help them decide whether to build to the new standard, and modeling items to find more value, like points toward the HERS rating.
Builders were also interested in real world numbers—testing on-site, or after the fact, to get real performance. Pine Mountain Builders is looking at modeled vs. actual HERS ratings, and others are looking at their customers’ utility bills and actual energy use to see if they’re delivering value.
Lab Homes
K. Hovnanian reported they were modeling potential solutions and building test homes in order to gather data. Our partner in the Alliance Energy Efficiency Lab Home, S&A Homes, said that project was R&D for the company, since they don’t have a dedicated budget for test homes.
Researching Unintended Consequences
The tighter building envelopes required by rising codes and standards can also have unintended consequences, like moisture buildup in wall assemblies. Both IBACOS and some Alliance builders are looking into ways to deal with this ongoing issue.
Market Research
Achieving ENERGY STAR v.3 is one thing—selling it is another. Wayne Homes and some other builders said they are looking at the market value of the ENERGY STAR label from a customer perspective to find out what value they place on it, since different market segments and geographic areas can have very different attitudes toward the label.
Third-party Collaboration
Almost 40% of builders at the Meeting said they are using some type of third-party collaboration to help them prepare. K Hovnanian and Darling Homes both cited the work they’ve done with IBACOS, and Darling is also using Burgess. Pine Mountain Builders said they had hired a consultant to help them benchmark how to get to ENERGY STAR v. 3. Other builders cited energy modeling with Skytech and Masco and science research with Bayer and Dow. Dean Potter of K. Hovnanian mentioned his company would like to work more with manufacturers, especially mechanicals, as a resource.
Design & Engineering
HVAC
Wayne Homes said that they are working with Carrier to bring their HVAC system under ACCA 3.0 standards. K. Hovnanian said they get better sized HVAC systems if they use an HVAC system designer rather than trades to design and size it. Other builders talked about raising standards to R-6 ducts if the code adopts them, and sealing return cavities for ducting.
Enclosure
Several builders cited aiming for specific building standards. Darling Homes is building to Green Building Dallas standards, and Heartland is currently building all their homes to ENERGY STAR standards. Other builders said they’re leaning hard on their vendors to get to v. 3, while others talked of offering ENERGY STAR as an option, if their customer wants the label. Wayne Homes said their focus on water management had made their homes more energy efficient.
Marketing
The ENERGY STAR v. 3 standard is motivating some builders to develop their own measurement system or energy brand, either to use alone or along with ENERGY STAR. Pulte Homes has developed an alternative energy rating system, while Heartland Homes said they are sticking with ENERGY STAR only. Other builders are pursuing more effective ways of educating customers about “the true cost of ownership.”
It’s clear that some builders see the v. 3 standards as very difficult to achieve. One related complaint was the high cost of required inspections and ratings, and their accuracy. DSLD reported a bad experience with one third party rater who wasn’t doing a good job of verifying their HVAC systems. Other builders pointed out that the problem of moisture in wall assemblies was just one unintended consequence of higher standards, and were concerned that other performance issues would emerge.
Even as many Alliance builders are preparing to build to ENERGY STAR v. 3, they are also questioning whether it goes too far. One builder said they felt the new standard puts too much “onus on the builder,” while another labeled the new standard “almost impossible” to achieve. Yet another pointed out their market doesn’t support the ENERGY STAR standard.
But there was general agreement that building science was becoming increasingly important in homebuilding. One builder reported that the kinds of materials, processes and testing that many in the industry used to consider foolish or pointless were now standard operating procedure.
Addison Homes talked about doing inspections of their homes before delivery, which allowed them to fix problems before the homeowner encountered them. They reported that, with infrared testing, they found issues they wouldn’t have otherwise. Imagine Homes noted that the relationship between HVAC and insulation requirements, though problematic, seemed to be improving.
Several builders said they wanted to see more real numbers coming out of testing, actual rather than modeled results, whether that was building systems testing or real utility bills from actual homeowners. They said they’d be interested in monitoring their occupied houses to see if their performance was as good as promised.
Watch the website for more insights from the Alliance Annual Meeting.
