November 30, 2018
BetterBuiltNW Newsletter Q4 2018
Presentations from Home Efficiency Forum 2018 Are Now Online
Thank you to everyone who attended Home Efficiency Forum this year! We hope you had a great time, made valuable connections and learned something new. All presentations are now on our website and available to download, even if you weren’t able to attend the event.
Partner Event: Top 10 Best Practices for Today’s Homebuilder
Join BetterBuiltNW for this free one-day training in Hood River, OR, and Kennewick, WA, and learn the latest and greatest techniques being used today to build energy-efficient homes.
Gain info that every builder must know to stay on top of building code changes and ahead of homebuyer expectations—and earn 8 CEUs while you’re at it!
This training will cover our Top 10 "Good, Better & Best" approaches to quality home construction and will share practical insights from the job site. The topics presented will help you stay on top of your game and increase the energy efficiency, comfort and durability of the homes you’re building.
Why Should Builders Have Their Homes Rated?
RESNET is undertaking a marketing campaign to increase the demand for HERS ratings. A key element is to communicate why builders should have their homes HERS rated. As part of this effort, RESNET has produced a short video targeting builders: "Why Builders Should Have Their Homes Rated."
This video can be a valuable tool for certified RESNET HERS Raters to market their services. HERS Raters are encouraged to download the video to post on their website and incorporate into their presentations to builders.
Shift Zero Brings a Local Government Perspective to Home Efficiency Forum
The Home Efficiency Forum always convenes an exciting line up of speakers, and 2018’s conference was no different. One session of note was “What’s in Your Toolkit? Creating and Adopting Green Building Incentives,” delivered by Leah Missik of Built Green and Rose Lathrop of Sustainable Connections – both representing the Shift Zero alliance.
Rocky Mountain Institute Report: The Economics of Zero Energy Homes
Rocky Mountain Institute has put together a report focusing on the economics of zero energy homes. This report demonstrates that the cost increase to build a Zero Energy or Zero Energy Ready home is modest—far less than consumers, builders and policymakers realize—and highlights methods builders and policymakers can use to drive increased market penetration.
Oregonians: Get Ready for ENERGY STAR Certified Homes 3.2!
As codes continue to advance in the Northwest, home certification programs refresh their specifications, checklists and participation requirements to reflect these advancements.
The EPA ENERGY STAR® Certified Homes program has been updating versions and revisions over the past year to stay ahead of codes in Washington and Oregon. In the ENERGY STAR parlance, versions represent changes in program stringency to maintain savings or percent above codes, while revisions represent updates to checklists to streamline and simplify compliance with program elements.