THE FIGHT TO SAVE THE EARTH BEGINS AT HOME

Study pushes for solar homes in Texas
October 1, 2009 (AP via Dallas Morning News)
and
Building for a Clean Energy Future; How Texas Can Reduce Pollution,Save Energy and Cut Costs with Efficient Solar Homes
Travis Madsen, Tony Dutzik and Luke Metzger, October 1, 2009 (Environment Texas Research and Policy Center)

SUMMARY
Who wants to live in a house that uses no energy? Wait. The correct question ought to be: Who DOESN’T?

Building for a Clean Energy Future, from Environment Texas, reveals the enormous contribution homes that are built to be energy efficient and use New Energy can make in the fight to cut greenhouse gas emissions (GhGs) and transition away from increasingly expensive, often imported and frequently environmentally destructive fossil fuels.

Advances in solar energy systems and building efficiencies make it possible for homes to achieve levels of performance in consumption that can be termed net-zero in their grid energy consumption.

Some ~40% of the world’s GhGs come from the built environment. The Environment Texas report demonstrates through the concrete example of 1 state's new home sector numbers what the nation and the world could do and become.

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COMMENTARY
Home may or may not be where the heart is, despite the old saying. Some birds make more of their nests than others. But one thing is certain: Homes are where the energy gets burned.

At present, the energy most homes consume comes largely from fossil fuels. For each net-zero house, for which the technology is presently available, a bit of the nation’s contribution to global climate change is eliminated.

Texas is expected to build 2.2 million new single-family homes between 2010 and 2030. If everything built by 2020 is net-zero, the state can avoid the need for 7 new large-scale power plants by 2030. That would be a reduction in GhGs equivalent to removing 3 million cars and trucks from Texas highways. It would be a net cut of over $5 billion from Texas’ homeowners energy bills and net homeowner costs would be $1.1 billion lower.

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A net-zero energy home could cost ~$40 per month less (with incentives) than a standard home and the cost savings will increase going forward. The U.S. Department of Energy expects the installed cost of solar systems to drop 50% by 2015. At that price point, a net-zero energy home will cost the same per month without incentives as a standard home.

In 2030, with the predicted net-zero improvements, Texas homeowners would save $5.4 billion on their utility bills and home ownership costs over the 20-year study period would be cut $1.1 billion (in 2009 dollars).

Primary market barriers: (1) Lack of familiarity to builders and homeowners; (2) Up-front costs.

While the price premium for a net-zero energy home (after incentives) is ~ $10 per square foot, current Texas incentives cut the total home ownership costs $40 per month below such costs for a standard home. In the Houston area, the average net-zero home’s utility bill is ~$2,400 less per year.

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Primary proposed solutions: (1) Federal, state and local incentives and (2) education programs.

Why do net-zero homes deserve incentives borne by the broader tax base?

Net-zero homes cut society-wide and economy-wide costs: (1) They reduce the need for new power plants and new transmission; (2) By reducing demand for fossil fuel energy, they reduce upward pressure on the price of power plant generated electricity, reducing all consumers' energy bills; (3) By reducing pollutants, they eliminate public health costs and the cost burden of public maintenance.

Because net-zero homes do these things, the price of these benefits is justifiably derived from the tax base and directed to fund federal, state and local incentives for builders and homebuyers to advance the use of Energy Efficiency and New Energy in new homes.

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How net-zero homes cut fossil fuel dependence: (1) If all new Texas homes in 2020 are net-zero, Texas will use 15 billion fewer kilowatt-hours of electricity by 2030; (2) Solar systems would generate another 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity by 2030, replacing 3% of Texas’ power generation; (3) The net-zero homes would also eliminate 500 million therms (1 therm=10.25 million cubic feet) of natural gas consumption.

The all-net-zero-homes-by-2020 target means that by 2030: (1) There will be 18 million fewer metric tons of GhGs, 7.5 million fewer pounds of the nitrogen oxides that make smog and 400 fewer pounds of toxic mercury; (2) There will be the equivalent of 3 million fewer vehicles spewing GhGs, 1 of every 6 Texas vehicles; (3) There will be ~10 billion fewer gallons of water used in 2030 for cooling fossil-fuel burning power plants, enough water for 400,000+ people.

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One key to maximizing returns from Energy Efficiency is to incorporate the improvements during construction. Complete constructed Energy Efficiency can reduce energy use by 2/3 from a standard home: (1) Improved insulation, tight construction, high-efficiency windows, and light colored “cool roofs” reduce temperature fluctuations and cut cooling and heating equipment use 75%; (2) Efficient lighting and appliances work as well or better than standard lighting and appliances and cut energy use 50-to-70%.

Adding distributed generation New Energy systems means adding a source of energy generated by the house, not drawn from the grid supply. A 5-kilowatt rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) system can generate 5,800-to-7,000 kilowatt-hours per year, depending on the climate. An energy-efficient home uses ~5,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.

A rooftop solar hot water system in an efficient home cuts natural gas hot water heating ~2/3. Geothermal heat pumps, small-scale wind turbines and other New Energy systems add to grid supply reductions.

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Between efficiencies and distributed generation New Energy systems, it is easy to see a house requiring no net grid electricity. The homes will still require some grid supply because home systems may not meet full demand fulltime. But there will also be times when the home’s energy systems are feeding back to the grid, netting the house’s grid energy use at zero.

Steps to moving all new buildings to net-zero energy performance by 2030: (1) Require localities to strengthen building energy codes to meet or exceed the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code; (2) Provide financial incentives and technical assistance for efficient building and solar system installation.

Incentives that will produce more net-zero energy homes: (1) State rebate programs for solar system and other distributed generation New Energy system installation; (2) Municipal loans for distributed generation New Energy system installation with payback through property taxes; (3) Net metering and feed-in tariffs to reward the installation of New Energy systems; (4) Utility incentive programs.

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Environment Texas proposed some innovative state and federal incentive program goals worth considering: (1) A requirement that Texas utilities step up Energy Efficiency programs like Energy Star homes until state electricity is reduced 1% per year by 2015 and 2% per year by 2020; (2) A federally mandated national Energy Efficiency Resource Standard (EERS) requiring regulated utilities to cut electricity consumption 10% by 2020; (3) National lighting and Energy Efficiency residential and commercial new building codes requiring a 50% reduction in energy consumption by 2015 and a 75% cut by 2030; (4) A comprehensive and demanding built environment retrofit program.

Net-zero energy use homes may not long ago have seemed like a concept out of the Jetsons but it is now, thanks to Environment Texas, in a legitimate and well-documented study.

Soon it will be in neighborhoods near all of us.

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QUOTES
- From the Environment Texas study: “Using energy-efficient technology and smallscale solar energy systems, homes can be built to generate as much energy as they use, achieving “net-zero energy” performance…The technology necessary to build net-zero energy homes is ready and available today. However, it is not yet in widespread use, because of a variety of market barriers, including lack of familiarity and up-front cost. To unlock the potential of high-performance homes, Texas and federal officials should work to overcome these market barriers and encourage the spread of efficient home designs and small-scale renewable energy technologies such as solar energy systems.”

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- From the Environment Texas study: “Texas has always been a state that prides itself on independence. Today, Texas is continuing that tradition by leading a national transition toward clean energy sources that never run out. While Texas’ economy was once built around oil and gas, the state is now America’s leading producer of wind power. Clean electricity is helping Texas to prevent air pollution and make the air healthier to breathe. At the same time, clean electricity is helping to reduce Texas’ contribution to the serious problem of global warming. Finally, clean electricity is proving a boon to the state’s economy, providing stimulus for rural communities and reducing the cost of electricity and natural gas for everyone. However, many additional sources of clean energy remain underutilized. By capturing more of these resources, Texas can continue to make progress toward a
healthier future. One of the best places to start is with our homes.”

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- From the Environment Texas study: “The technology necessary to build net-zero energy homes is ready and available today. However, it is not yet in widespread use because of a variety of market barriers – including higher upfront cost, split incentives between builders and buyers, and the fact that home buyers do not always take into account the long-term savings available through higher energy performance…With the right mix of incentives and policies, Texas can give net-zero energy homes – and the efficiency and solar markets – the kick-start they need to get up and running. A small investment now could bring billions in investment to the state over the next decade. With growth in demand, economies of scale will help make all new homes energy efficient, make solar energy affordable for everybody, and deliver widespread benefits to all of Texas society – cleaner air, less global warming, savings on energy, and less vulnerability to fossil fuel price spikes.”