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Helpful Homeowner Resources
 
The new report of the number of
ENERGY STAR homes built is out. E-star still has about the same market
penetration here that it had in 2006 which is 36%, but the volume of E-STAR
homes dropped from about 60,000 to just over 40,000 due to the overall slowdown.
The good news is that Texas now builds more E-Star homes
than the next six leading states combined; we only surpassed the
next three leading states in 2006. In fact about 1/3 of all E-Star homes built
in the US are here in TX. Obviously the downturn in other markets has a lot to
do with this, but these are still good talking points.
TX Builders saved resources equal to taking 20,000 vehicles
off the road, more than 100 million pounds of coal and more than 30,000 acres of
trees while saving consumers more than $18 million on their utility bills.
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=qhmi.showHomesMarketIndex
|
State |
2007 ENERGY STAR
Qualified New Homes¹ |
2007 One-Unit
Housing Permits2 |
2007 ENERGY STAR
Market Penetration |
|
Arizona |
7,395 |
35,255 |
21% |
|
|
Arkansas |
7,395 |
35,255 |
21% |
|
|
California |
7,685 |
63,897 |
12% |
|
|
Connecticut |
689 |
5,006 |
14% |
|
|
Hawaii |
1,725 |
4,195 |
41% |
|
|
Iowa |
2,843 |
8,119 |
35% |
|
|
Massachusetts |
1,287 |
8,357 |
15% |
|
|
Nevada |
7,583 |
15,216 |
50% |
|
|
New Jersey |
5,926 |
12,230 |
48% |
|
|
New York |
2,453 |
15,995 |
15% |
|
|
Oklahoma |
2,249 |
11,305 |
20% |
|
|
Rhode Island |
279 |
1,306 |
21% |
|
|
Texas |
40,447 |
110,874 |
36% |
|
|
Utah |
2,531 |
15,425 |
16% |
|
|
Vermont |
403 |
1,482 |
27% |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
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Did You Know?
| In 2007, Texas led the nation,
building more than 40,000 ENERGY STAR homes more than the next six
leading states combined. |
| Green Built Texas homes are
designed to be at least 17 percent more energy-efficient than a home built to code.
Contact your builder for specific features included in your home. |
| Your home can produce more pollution than your car-16% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions are generated from energy used in homes. |
| According to the National Association of Home Builders, green building is poised to grow to a $38 billion industry by 2010. |
| Federal tax credits are available for many types of home improvements including adding insulation, replacement windows, and certain high efficiency heating and cooling equipment.
Visit, www.energystar.gov for more
information. |
| The average household will spend almost $2,100 on home energy costs in 2007. |
| According to ENERGY STAR, a programmable thermostat could save up to $150 per year on utility bills. |
| If every U.S. household replaced just one incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent
(CFL) bulb, it would save enough energy to light about 3 million homes for a year and save more than $650 million in annual energy costs. |
| Replacing four 75-watt incandescent bulbs with 23-watt compact fluorescent
(CFL) bulbs can save you more than 2000 kWh and $190 over the life of the bulbs. |
| Running a faucet for five minutes uses as much energy as burning a 60-watt bulb for 14 hours. |
| A hot water faucet leaking one drop per second can add up to 165 gallons a month-more than one person uses in two weeks. |
| Dishwashers use six gallons less water than dishes washed by hand,
that adds up to more than 2,000 gallons per year. |
| Opening refrigerator doors allows 3% of the cold air to escape. |
| In Texas as much as 60% of the home’s total water use is devoted to outdoor irrigation. Coupled with drought-tolerant landscaping, rainwater harvesting can supply most, if not all, of the water needed for outdoor irrigation. |
| A showerhead that uses less than 2.5 gallons of water per minute or less can save a family of four as much as 3,000 gallons of water each month. The annual savings in energy and water costs could exceed $300. |
| Properly shading windows to reduce solar heat gain can save more than $150 in home energy costs annually. |
| Reducing air leakage in ducts by using mastic can save as much as $200 in annual home energy costs. |
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 Green
Built Texas works closely with the Texas Home Energy Raters Organization (HERO)
to develop quality control guidelines in support of the program.
The members of Texas HERO can perform many valuable services aimed at helping
you save energy in your new home or remodeling project. Visit
www.txhero.org.
Local
Resources for Homeowners
|
Click
here for more no-cost and/or low-cost "do-it-yourself"
tips on saving energy.
|
Home
Energy Saving Tips You Can Do Today:
Turn off appliances and lights when you
leave the room.
Replace burnt out bulbs with compact
fluorescent bulbs.
Set sprinklers to water the lawn or garden only - not the street or
sidewalk.
Purchase "Green Power" for your home's electricity. (Contact
your power supplier to see where and if it is available.)
Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading into the dishwasher; wash
only full loads.
Cut back on air conditioning and heating use if you can. 2 degrees can
make a difference.
Wash clothes in cold water when doing laundry.
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle |
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More Helpful Resources for Homeowners
|
Calculate
Your Water Usage |
Calculate how much water your family uses in a day, month
and year - and how much you could conserve. |
Calculate
Your
Carbon Footprint |
Online carbon footprint calculator to measure your — or your household's — climate impact.
It will estimate how many tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases your choices create each year. |
|
Top
10 Remodeling Technologies |
The
partnership for Advancing Technology in Housing (PATH) has scanned the industry for the technologies with the most promise for making our existing homes more durable, stronger and more resource efficient. |
|
Energy
Information Administration |
Official
energy statistics from the U.S. government. |
|
Treehugger.com |
A
one-stop shop for green news, solutions, and product information. |
|
How
to Green Guides |
A
plethora of handy guides to help you green your lives with ease. |
National
Geographic
Green Guide |
Written for general
consumers and is chock-full of simple, useful ideas, broken down into achievable steps that make "going green" a gradual and affordable process rather than an all-or-nothing plunge. |
|
BuildingGreen.com |
Lists product descriptions for over 2,000 environmentally preferable products. |
|
GreenHome.com |
One of the first, largest, and most respected online resources
for green products, advice and information on greening your home. |
|
BuyGreen.com |
Eco friendly
clothing and green home environmental products including natural organic products. |
|
DSIRE |
A
comprehensive
source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives
that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. |
|
GreenHomeGuide.com |
Connecting you to advice, information, and green professionals. |
|
Smart
Homeowner Magazine |
Innovative solutions for creating efficient, healthy, eco-friendly homes. |
|
Natural
Home Magazine |
The
authority on sustainable home design and materials, earth-friendly décor and natural lifestyles. |
|
Verdant |
The nation’s first upscale, environmentally-friendly, lifestyle magazine featuring green ideas for better living. |
|
EDC
Magazine |
A resource for architects and designers to find environmental products and services. |
|
NewSociety.com |
Offers
'green' home building books:
Choosing Green: The Homebuyer’s Guide to Good Green Homes;
By Jerry Yudelson
Prescriptions for a Healthy House 3rd Edition: A Practical Guide for Architects, Builders & Homeowners;
By Paula Baker-LaPorte FAIA, John C. Banta CAIH, Erica Elliot, MD
Your Green Home: A Guide to Planning a Healthy, Environmentally
Friendly, New Home; By Alex Wlison
Green Remodeling: Changing the World, One Room at a Time; By David Johnston and Kim Master |
|
Texas
Home & Garden |
Official
website of the Texas Home & Garden Shows. The ultimate one-stop
shopping events for your home, garden and lifestyle. |
Dallas
Home
Improvement Magazine |
A
resource for homeowners in the Dallas / Ft Worth metroplex. From remodeling to decorating, gardening to home
maintenance. |
|
Hybrid
Tax Credits for 2008 |
Hybrid vehicle tax credits.
Contact your tax professional for more information. |
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