Apply Fayetteville Energy Efficiency Standards Statewide, Lawmakers Told

BENTONVILLE -- Fayetteville's higher energy efficiency standards for new buildings didn't slow construction there and should be adopted statewide, state legislators were told Thursday.

The standards, adopted in 2012, add as much as $3,000 to the price of a home and hurt poor and first-time homeowners the most, replied the president of the Northwest Arkansas Home Builders Association.

The Applied Sustainability Center, a part of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, hosted a conference on energy for both sitting and incoming lawmakers. The conference took place Thursday at the NorthWest Arkansas Community College campus in Bentonville.

Panelists at the conference included businessmen ranging from Greg Pool, senior manager for Renewable Energy and Emissions at Walmart, to Douglas Hutchings, the chief executive of a new company in Fayetteville. Hutchings' company, Picasolar, improves the efficiency of solar cells.

New technologies and methods, ranging from LED lighting to company-wide energy use plans, are slowing the curve of increases in the need for power, panelists told the lawmakers. Solar power technology, in particular, has shown dramatic and unexpected improvement in recent years, they said. Pool told lawmakers solar power has passed "beyond the risk curve of new technology" into a practical, added source of power.

Still, the greatest immediate gains with the quickest return on investment for consumers are in improving energy efficiency, lawmakers were told.

"You can generate all the renewable energy you want, but if you're air-conditioning the outside with leaky ducts it isn't doing much good," said John Coleman, director of the Northwest Arkansas regional office of Viridian, an energy efficiency consulting company.

"A lot of times we'll recommend things that will give a lot quicker return on investment," such as improved insulation and sealing, Coleman said. "But if the customer says, 'I still want a solar panel,' we'll recommend one."

Coleman raised the issue of Fayetteville's home building standards, which he said have proven to be cost-effective. Whatever costs are added to a home or other building, which vary with the project, are quickly recouped, he said.

The state Legislature rejected efforts to adopt similar standards statewide in its last regular session.

"Every $1,000 you add to the price of a home prices 700 families out of the market just in Northwest Arkansas," said Jack Hales of Rogers, president of the NWA Home Builders. "It might not affect most of the housing market, but it's hardest on the people who can afford it the least. It doesn't matter how quickly it can be recouped if you can't afford it in the first place."

Rep.-elect Jana Della Rosa, R-Rogers, attended the conference and is a trained engineer. She said if the Fayetteville standards are beneficial, that extra value ought to be reflected in a home's appraisal. She would be more interested in changes to reflect such values in the appraised value of a home, where it would affect the market and lending by banks, than in government-imposed building requirements.

NW News on 07/18/2014

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