Save $505.00 off a Home Energy Audit
Here are more details on the city's new efficiency reporting, permitting and code proposals:
- The city would require commercial buildings larger than 50,000 square feet and residential buildings with more than 20 units to measure and disclose their energy use starting next year, expanding the requirement to buildings more than 25,000 square feet or with at least 10 units in 2011 and to those more than 10,000 square feet or with at least five units in 2012.
- A new "Green Q" program, starting in December, would guarantee permit review and approval times for new residential and commercial projects committed to high energy efficiency.
- The Construction Codes Advisory Board would provide early review and guidance for innovative projects meeting certain energy standards.
- City officials would advocate for a 30 percent improvement in state energy code efficiency standards and, if necessary, put the increased requirements in the city's energy code next year.
"We're going to show where their homes leak energy and where their homes are leaking money," Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels said. "This will be the largest such demonstration project in the United States."
Seattle City Light will contribute $1.5 million to the effort through its five-year conservation plan. The program also will loan homeowners $8,000 to $20,000 for efficiency improvements -- such as new lighting, furnaces, water heaters and windows -- using $1.2 million from a federal stimulus package energy efficiency and conservation block grant.
Homeowners will be able to use energy savings to pay back the loans, "so there won't be any money out of pocket," Nickels said.
The mayor also announced that Seattle would require commercial and multifamily residential buildings to measure and disclose their energy use; expand training for efficiency auditors and technicians; increase energy-efficiency requirements for new buildings by 30 percent; and launch a new process to expedite permitting of projects that meet efficiency standards in innovative ways.
Pacific Northwest Energy Group Home energy Audits. http://www.PacificNorthwestEnergyGroup.com
