ArchitectureWeek - Environment - Green Stimulus Multiplication

The 14x Stimulus plan also encourages new home buying with reduced mortgage interest rates of homes meeting a HERS 70 or HERS 50 rating. For each new home sold under this plan, one dollar of stimulus money generates about $42 of private investment.

It is this ability to generate large amounts of private spending that so effectively leverages each stimulus dollar. As a result, the 14x Stimulus plan generates 14 times the amount of stimulus funding in private spending and, thus, 14 times the number of jobs that would have been created by the stimulus dollars alone.

What is a HERS rating?

The Home Energy Rating System (HERS) is based on the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). The reference point is an "American standard" new house, built to IECC 2006 standards, which scores a HERS rating of 100, while a net-zero-energy home scores a zero.

Lower ratings mean greater energy efficiency. Each one-point decrease in the HERS rating corresponds to a one-percent reduction in energy consumption compared to the IECC 2006 standard. So, for example, a home with a HERS rating of 75 is 25% more energy-efficient than IECC 2006 specifies.

Home energy ratings involve an onsite inspection and measurement of characteristics such as insulation levels, wall-to-window ratios, heating and cooling system efficiency, and solar orientation of the home. Diagnostic testing typically includes a blower door test for air leakage and duct leakage testing. Projected ratings can also be performed from plans prior to construction.

HERS is maintained by the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET), a nonprofit network of mortgage lenders and residential energy-efficiency professionals. RESNET's standards are recognized by the U.S. mortgage industry for capitalizing a building's energy performance in the mortgage loan, and by the federal government for such programs as federal tax incentives, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Energy Star program and the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America Program.

(The 14:1 ratio is based on allocation of 70% of the stimulus dollars to buying down existing home mortgage rates, 20% to new home mortgages at the HERS 70 level, and 10% to new homes at HERS 50.)

For example, if a city or county invests $1 million of its stimulus dollars and $1 million in additional state stimulus matching funds ($2 million total), the plan would generate $28 million in local private spending and create 434 new jobs. The federal government would be paid back $6 million in new taxes, triple its investment, with an additional $2 million in new tax revenue going into city, county, and state coffers. An incredible return on investment. The more money invested, the greater the return.

It is also likely that, with lower rates and increased savings, homeowners will take advantage of the construction team being on site to do additional renovations — fix a bathroom, add a bedroom, remodel a kitchen — thus spending even more. In this case, the return on investment would be even higher, making this strategy even more effective.

There are few opportunities that come along that allow us to address several major crises at once, but this is definitely one. We cannot afford to let this opportunity slip through our fingers.

Edward Mazria, founder of Architecture 2030, is an architect, author, and educator. His award-winning sustainable architecture and planning projects span 35 years. Mazria's published works include The Passive Solar Energy Book, and his research has reshaped the international dialogue on climate change to incorporate the building sector. He developed and issued the 2030 Challenge, a measured and achievable strategy to dramatically reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and fossil fuel consumption by the year 2030.