Mayor’s proposal would rate new homes on efficiency
BY DUSTIN TRACY Northwest Arkansas Times
Posted on Thursday, July 3, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/66769/
There might be a new score for potential home buyers in Fayetteville to consider, and it’s not a credit score.
Mayor Dan Coody’s ad hoc committee on energyefficient construction is presenting a proposed change to the city’s unified development code that would require builders to display a sticker on a home for sale showing the property’s score for energy efficiency.
John Coleman, sustainability coordinator for the city, said the idea is to encourage building energy-efficient structures via competition. Builders would come into the building safety office before construction and fill out a scorecard explaining what they’re going to put into the house to make it energy efficient. Features like solar boards and LED lights would give the house a higher score. After the house is built, city inspectors would check the structure and give it a final score.
“ Displaying the sticker is the only change we’re requiring, ” Coleman said. “ We’re not requiring the builder to do anything above what is required (by the city ) now. ”
The committee included a few builders, developers, representatives from local utility companies and citizens. It’s been meeting since January, when Coody decided the city needed to do something about energy-inefficient buildings. The group met twice monthly with the goal to provide recommendations in the areas of education, energy code upgrades and incentives for energy-efficient construction.
“ Sixty percent of our energy consumption is buildings, ” Coody said. “ A lot of that energy is just wasted. We’re burning coal to produce energy that is just wasted. ”
He said all the money to produce that energy could be spent on better things and that’s why he formed the committee. He said the group’s idea of sustainability scores offers an incentive for builders to create houses that don’t waste energy.
The committee will present the idea to the council at its regular meeting at 7 p. m. July 15.
The committee is not a permanent fixture in the city and will end once its mission is complete, Coody said.
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3 comments:
Sometimes the site looks suitable until the actual damage occurs and people realize what has happened.
Aubrey is right that many more times the site is obviously inappropriate and the plan is passed anyway. Those are the ones he wants to see addressed.
In the case of Aspen Ridge, promises were unkept, so a worse plan was presented and passed after the major damage was done. And the spin is that "something is better than nothing."
"In the case of Aspen Ridge, promises were unkept, so a worse plan was presented and passed after the major damage was done. And the spin is that "something is better than nothing.""
Explain yourself, you speak in circular tongue.
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