Chronicle Editorial Board

COH should be more efficient

Houston Chronicle Editorial Board, Nov 22, 11.

Tagged with housing, conservation, energy efficiency

Houston City Council has a chance to save Houstonians money on their bills and save energy - all at no cost to taxpayers. Efficiency is easy to love.

As council updates city building codes, one of the most significant changes could be how much energy efficiency is required of new houses: unsexy stuff like how much insulation has to be in walls and around pipes, how leak-proof windows and doors are, and how efficiently light bulbs glow.

More efficiency costs more money up front; and naturally, there’s a trade-off between the up-front costs and the long-term savings. But the sweet spot appears to be requiring 15 percent more energy efficiency than our current code does - a surprisingly cheap-to-achieve level suggested by the wonks at the International Code Council, backed by Environment Texas and the Energy Efficient Codes Coalition, and supported by council members Melissa Noriega and James Rodriguez.

At that sweet spot, for the average-sized new Houston house, extra insulation and such would cost around $1,600 - less than one percent of the average house’s sales price. And starting with the very first month’s bills, the higher efficiency would leave homeowners with more money in their pockets: Though the payment on a 30-year mortgage would be about $7 more, the utility bills would be $21 less. In only 22 months, the energy savings would completely pay for the upgraded efficiency. And the lower power bills would continue for as long as the house stands.

Full Story: Energy efficiency makes simple sense
Source: Houston Chronicle, November 21, 2011

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