Emma and Debra Robinson could give testimonials to the joys of energy efficiency in a home.
The mother-and-daughter duo decided it was time to leave their 50-year-old Chicago bungalow when monthly heating bills shot up to nearly $300 and no amount of winterizing could stop the draft whistling through the living room.
When they shopped for a new home they made a priority of checking the quality of the windows, furnace and air conditioning.
They also selected a builder who guaranteed that the annual heating bill for their 3,700-square-foot house would not exceed $400 for the first three years.
The Robinsons’ efforts have been rewarded. They haven’t paid more than $60 a month for heat or electricity since moving to HomeTown Aurora by Bigelow Homes in January 2004.
With the money they save on utility bills, “We have more discretionary funds for dinners out and the movies,” said Debra Robinson.
Unfortunately, the Robinsons are not typical new-home buyers.
Few buyers bother to ask about energy efficiency.
In addition, it “is an infrequent upgrade request, although obviously that may change in the press of rising energy prices,” said Jeffrey Brown, president of Cary-based Reserve One Homes Inc.
Paying no attention
Buyers–even of high-ticket custom homes–focus on price per square foot, often ignoring the long-range energy savings some well-chosen construction dollars can make, said Bill Whelan, marketing manager for West Chicago-based Airhart Construction.
The company builds Energy Star-rated homes that are about 30 percent more efficient than most other new construction.
“We have to educate people coming through the door,” he said, referring to the ho-hum attitude of many home buyers when it comes to the cost of heating, cooling and electricity.
With energy costs soaring, more buyers may be facing a fast learning curve.
Natural gas costs are predicted to jump a whopping 50 percent this winter, bad news for the Midwest, where four out of five are heated with gas. The American Gas Association estimates some homeowners in the region could pay as much as $1,600 for this winter’s heat, compared with $950 a year ago.
Those increases will come on top of the higher prices that buyers are paying at the gas pump to commute to new homes in distant suburbs.
Bigelow and William Ryan Homes are among the companies that give buyers an estimate of annual heating and cooling costs for several years and if the bill is underestimated the builder will pay the difference. Other builders offer upgrade options on components, from insulation to windows.No single feature makes a house energy efficient and home price alone is a poor predictor of resource savings.
Most new homes are built better than in the past, but it is up to the buyer to ensure he or she is obtaining the best quality for the money, said consultant Steve Easley, a former Purdue University professor of building science.
Easley recommended buyers look for an Energy Star home, but said they are sometimes more expensive, “so shop around.”
Buyers should look for some old-fashioned common-sense basics such as wide roof overhangs and porches that protect the house from the worst of the summer sun and worst of Midwestern winters, he said.
He also suggested buyers insist on a builder that seals ductwork.
“Some builders don’t seal the ducts, which can mean 25 to 30 percent of the heating and cooling is lost,” Easley said.
“The hallmark of an energy-efficient home is the comfort level. It’s not drafty” and is comfortable, said Mike Venetis, vice president of sales and marketing for Bigelow Homes, which has emphasized energy efficiency for several decades.
One of the steps his company takes to achieve that goal is to put all ductwork within the envelope of the home so that the air circulating through the system remains at a more constant temperature.
“If the ductwork is in spaces which are subject to extremes of heat and cold, the recirculating air is cooler and reheated when it enters the central space of the house. That leads to energy inefficiency,” said Venetis.
The company also has patented an insulating foundation to reduce the cold conducted by concrete in basements or slabs.
“The $1,000 you add to the cost of a new home for energy efficiency means as little as $6 more to the monthly mortgage payment,” Venetis said. “A $3,000 upgrade for energy efficiency may add $18 to the mortgage payment, but if you save $100 a month in heating bills, it doesn’t take long to recoup that.”
“The biggest bang for the efficiency buck comes from opting for added insulation and low-emissivity [low-E] windows,” said Mike Bednarek, president of Concord Homes’ suburban division.
For less than $1,000, added insulation can boost the “R” rating in the walls of a 2,500-square-foot house to 16 from 13 and the roof rating from a standard 30 to 38, Bednarek said. R-rating is a measure of resistance to heat loss.
“Once you close up your walls it is not easy to change the insulation,” Bednarek noted.
Choosing low-E windows may result in as little as $400 in additional cost, said the builder. The coated glass filters ultraviolet rays to keep interior temperatures more consistent, allowing furnaces and air conditioners to work more efficiently for a savings of up to 25 percent on heating and 40 percent on cooling.
A key decision
But upgrade to low-E windows early because changes after they have been ordered or installed are costly.
“It dismays me when I see the truck for companies who put coatings on the windows pull up to other homes in the area,” said Whelan of Airhart Construction. “The owners are paying for this to be done after buying a house when we include it in the price of a house.”
Buyers do ask about efficiency ratings for furnaces and air conditioners, even though in most production homes buyers have little choice but to take what the builder is installing.
Concord’s Bednarek notes the minimum for furnaces is set by municipal codes and may vary from development to development. The builder typically installs an 80 percent energy-efficient model but will install units with a 92 percent efficiency rating if the local rules require it. Air conditioning is optional, a feature in which no upgrades are offered.
“We typically do not switch out what we offer,” he said, because the homes are engineered for specific units and because too many changes interfere with timely production.
Yet buyers might want to do some advance research, especially because air conditioning is a technology in the throes of change.
“The quality of air conditioners varies a lot among builders,” said Karl Zellmer, vice president for air conditioning sales for Emerson Climate Technologies, a producer of components for most brands of central air conditioning units.
He said buyers shouldn’t assume that “a million-dollar production home automatically has a more efficient AC system.” Because production builders buy in quantity, “the same quality unit [goes] in every home” regardless of the final selling price, he noted.
“Some builders have units with energy-efficiency upgrades,” available to interested consumers, he noted. “When people do the research, they seem to buy a better, more efficient unit.”
For the last decade, the federal government has mandated central air units have a minimum 10 SEER, which stands for seasonal energy efficiency rating.
Production of 10 SEER units will be discontinued in January 2006, thanks to new government rules, although a number of SEER 10s are in the pipeline and will be installed. The new minimum will be SEER 13 and builders such as Lombard-based Town & Country Homes already are implementing those changes.
“The change from SEER 10 to SEER 13 represents a 30 percent improvement in energy efficiency,” said Mark Loehner, vice president of purchasing. The change may bump up the cost of the home from $800 to $1,000 but Loehner estimates that will be recouped in one to two years of use.
Those buying and closing on a new house in the coming months might want to inquire what the builder is installing. Buyers also should be aware of the kind of refrigerant used in the system. In 2010, federal mandates require phasing out R22, commonly called Freon, the most common refrigerant used today, in favor of R410A, called by the trade name Puron. Considered more friendly to the environment, Puron will be considered the new standard. Supplies of Freon will be available beyond the changeover date, but the refrigerant likely will become more expensive as supplies dwindle.
“Any time you consider an additional option be sure to analyze the cost effectiveness,” Easley urged, because some expensive upgrades only marginally reduce energy loss.
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Make sure new home doesn’t waste energy
– Check the ratings tags on windows, heating and air conditioning units and learn what the numbers mean.
– Ask the builder for estimates on utility bills. Better yet, knock on the door of other homeowners in the development to ask what they pay for utilities and if they are satisfied with the comfort level of the home.
– Do plenty of research and decide what efficiency features you want and what you are willing to pay for before signing a contract. Not all builders can make all changes; later modifications can be significantly more costly.
— Sharon Stangenes
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sstangenes@tribune.com
PART 3
Sunday in Real Estate
If the feared heating-cost hikes that are facing homeowners with the arrival of cold weather turn out to be more than a blip, some experts say the consequences could be significant for the housing market. It might even hurt prices for resales.
