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The argument for Washington state energy conservation codes
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While the good people of Seattle are asleep, forces beyond their immediate control are trying to prevent them from the newly revised American dream of purchasing a super energy efficient home. Industry representatives have successfully lobbied the legislature to block 97 legislative proposals before the State Building Code Council www.sbcc.wa.gov that would ensure that greener home building than is currently available is a mandate in WA state. Historically WA State has led the nation along with Oregon and California in energy conservation requirements in new construction. This is no longer the case and even proposals that have been submitted as “keeping up with the Jones” or measures that allow WA to be on an even par with other states are blocked as well. Current legislation doesn’t require an increase in the stringency until 2013.
Needless to say this is not a bi-partisan effort. Indeed, earlier this year in a response to the concerns for climate change, the governor requested an increase in the stringency of energy conservation codes for new buildings to be in effect as of July 1, 2010.
The surface level argument is two fold: Home builders claim that 1. Buyers don’t want to pay anything at all extra for energy efficient homes, and 2. The home building businesses will be severely impacted by the supposed increases in costs due to the new code requirements. What is not being discussed in this argument are two facts: 1. There is so far no mention of the money that the home owner will save on monthly utility bills in this argument which can be significant, and 2. There is virtually no activity at present to impact, so why not take the hit on a minimal amount of new starts now instead of sometime in the future when there may be a much larger impact after the market turns around?
There is a much deeper level argument to consider, however. By blocking the proposals the frightened home builders are delaying answering the call for climate change action. Energy conservation codes are a key component to building green. As long as new construction is allowed to occur, which primarily is a non-green activity for most home building, shouldn’t the home builders be required to do what they can to mitigate further damage to the environment? A recent statistic quoted in the November 9th, 2009 Newsweek article on Al Gore's new book, states that 20% of the CO2 present in the environment is attributable to deforestation - a fundamental part of the process in most home building. This amount is more than all of the world''s cars and trucks combined. www.newsweek.com
The bottom line question is this: Can we afford to wait? If you think the answer to that question is no, then how long can we allow lobbyists like the Building Industry Association of Washington to prevent action and force WA to bury its collective head in the sand? If you think the answer is yes, then consider this, do you want the home builders’ lobbying faction to make the decisions for us with respect to bettering the environment when it is inherently their job to destroy it?
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