Green Policies?
Posted on Jul 12th, 2009 by Doug Marsh VP, CR, CAPS, GBP | 0 Comments
I had an interesting conversation last night with a fellow about the role of government in development and green building. He was saying that he rents a duplex and, while it is a great space, the electric bill is $ 300 per month for 1200 square feet. Well there is something wrong with his AC that is for sure. He said he has complained to the landlord etc to no avail. Hope he works it out. What really captured my attention was his comment about how government should regulate owners and their buildings to conform to a green standard to combat the energy issues and climate change we are facing. I commented that he is not a homeowner asked if he was could he live with and afford a policy that told him he would have to upgrade components of his house to a certain standard to save energy? This is, in my mind, is a very complex question. My company is a Green Builder and we push to achieve as much as we can within budget restraints on our projects. Our projects are custom (funded by the Client). However what about the rest of us who undoubtedly have energy issues with our homes that need to be addressed. Should this issues be required by public policy to be fixed? Middle and lower income families have so many general expenses to attend to not to mention any minor to major health issues or loss of work that may be drastically affecting their income levels. I would love it if there were enough tax incentives or other public monetary mechanisms that could produce large changes with the energy issues within our homes. However we all know what the state of our economy and how, apparently, overextended our local, state, and especially, federal governments,are the current $ 1500 tax credit is a minor amount if you are looking at $ 10,000 in HVAC upgrades. The City of Austin, at one time, was toying with the idea of making all home owners who are going to sell their home upgrade all the windows in the house. I am sure we can all agree that most house need this badly but one size does fit all budgets. Austin has settled for the Home Energy Audit which shines a light on deficiencies in a home for sale. This is a good step toward energy conservation. I am not sure about what the next policy/ordinance requirements might be. I do not feel that there are any easy answers regarding all this when is comes to middle and lower income family budgets
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