The 2015 International Energy Conservation Code (which is American, not even recognized nationally, let alone international) requires that the house gets tested for the building equivalent of blood pressure, which is air tightness.
As of October 3, New York State has made blower tests mandatory to check houses reach the standard adopted in New York – 3 air changes per hour at 50 pascals of air pressure difference.
The UK Energy Saving Trust has recently held a Big Energy Saving Week. Interestingly, one of their main points was that consumers should be looking for the best supplier deal.
They found fear of the unknown was often behind consumers not making changes to save money – Read more
Check out their campaign on the Energy Saving Trust Facebook page
A continent-wide initiative, The European Energy Efficiency Mortgage, has launched, aligning some big players in lending, building and energy. It is looking at energy efficiency’s links to a reduced probability of default on payments – something that ultimately lead to more attractive lending rates offered. There will also be an exploration into the effect of energy efficiency measures on property value.
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How much energy do building codes save over time? That’s the question that a new report released last week from the Department of Energy (DOE) aims to answer — and the answers show the results can be mammoth, both in terms of consumers’ utility bill savings and avoided carbon emissions.
The DOE found that energy codes with modest updates over the years could save consumers $126 billion on their utility bills from 2010 to 2040. This equates to a carbon pollution reduction of 841 million metric tons, equivalent to the greenhouse gases emitted by 177 million passenger vehicles driven for one year or the carbon dioxide emissions from 245 coal power plants for one year.
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