The North Carolina Building Performance Association (NCBPA) and UNC Charlotte’s Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC) recently announced the results of a study on energy efficient and high performance homes and buildings in North Carolina.
For this first-of-its-kind study, data were collected from national energy efficiency certification agencies and from green building companies in North Carolina, which identified 121,919 energy efficient and high performance homes and buildings built in the state since 2007, including a 255 percent increase from 2010 to 2014.
“This study substantiates North Carolina’s position as a national leader in energy efficiency and high performance building with hard and proven data,” said Ryan Miller, NCBPA’s founder and executive director. “As the largest sector of North Carolina’s clean energy economy, it’s important to recognize the positive work that our energy efficiency industry and its customers are doing to save energy and create healthier, safer, more sustainable and valuable homes and buildings across all regions of our state.”
The study collected data from more than 80,000 new and existing homes and buildings to determine the ones that qualified as being energy efficient or high performing based on industry-recognized standards from 34 certification and verification programs and methods available in North Carolina.
Single family homes certified through ENERGY STAR accounted for the largest portion of certifications in the study. Single and multifamily homes receiving HERS ratings, LEED certified homes and buildings and single family homes certified through the National Green Building Standard accounted for the second, third and fourth positions respectively.
The total number of energy efficient and high performance homes and buildings has increased from approximately 5,000 in 2008 to more than 28,000 in 2014, the study showed. And despite the downturn in the state’s new construction housing market from 2007 to 2012, energy efficient and high performance homes and buildings showed increased demand.
“The data provides clear evidence of the advantages energy efficient and high performance homes and buildings provide within the construction and housing market in North Carolina, along with opportunities for certifications for existing homes,” stated Regina Guyer, EPIC assistant director, EEAO. “The next step is sharing this information wider and especially promoting the added value and benefits of these homes and buildings with real estate agents, appraisers, lenders, home builders and home buyers/sellers.”
The NCBPA’s Miller said, “The lower operating costs, lower mortgage rates and improved comfort are just some of the known benefits of these energy efficient homes and buildings, but our industry needs to do more to create a higher market valuation for these high performance homes and buildings.”