One grudging side effect of the downturn and rising energy costs is that they’ve begun driving adoption of energy efficiency measures in homebuilding. And of course environmental concerns and new regulations in some states have helped shift the sands in that direction as well.
Whatever forces are at work, though, it can be interesting to see how they come into play in certain locations. A recent article on the GreenBiz website zeros in on how Pulte Homes’ Centex division has fared under a prescriptive program developed by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) – which serves Sacramento County and part of Placer County in California. The program is designed to encourage builders to combine rooftop photovoltaic installations and construction techniques that increase the energy efficiency of a home’s shell.
The collaborations with homebuilders stem from SMUD’s participation in a four-year-old state program, called GoSolar, that aims to deliver 3,000 megawatts of solar electric power through the grid and 400 megawatts from PV installations on new homes by 2017. So far, GreenBiz notes, SMUD is on pace to meet its goal.
Measures of success
The utility tried to make the collaboration easier for Pulte by developing prescriptive guidelines for building homes to energy efficiency standards that would best, and most cost-effectively, complement their PV installations. That left the builder to focus on building rather than on research, Jim Burke, senior product and service coordinator for SMUD’s “SolarSmart” program, told GreenBiz.
Accordingly, Pulte has tuned its marketing to reflect both its homes’ performance and the likely priorities of its customers. “For our first-time Centex homebuyers, our message is almost exclusively focused on the benefits of lower utility bills,” Jim Petersen, Pulte’s director of research and development, said. “For Pulte Homes (move-up buyers) and Del Webb (aged 55 and older) homebuyers, we often talk about healthy living, sustainability, resale value and long-term investment. Solar as a hedge to rising energy costs for those on a fixed income also resonates.”
SMUD said it recruited about 30% of area builders for the GoSolar program, and all the original recruits continue to participate, the utility said, adding that the hope is that success among the participants will spawn interest among competitors.
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GoSolar California program components. The electric budgets are for 2007-2016, and the gas budgets are for 2010-2017.
