Thursday I attended a class on the recently adopted home energy score policy that will come into effect January 1, 2018.  City council approved this policy (Title 17.108) unanimously in December of last year.  Only in the city of Portland will it be required, this means no Beaverton, Hillsboro, Troutdale, Gresham, etc. The policy will require that all homeowners obtain a home energy performance report from a licensed assessor BEFORE listing their home on the market, including Zillow’s “coming soon”.  A copy of this report, including the score, will need to be listed on the RMLS so that all brokers have access to it as well as provided to any buyer that tours the home. The report will also have to go to the City of Portland.  Overall, I believe the goal behind this policy is to help homeowners become more energy efficient with small changes they might have not thought about, reducing our cities carbon footprint at the same time.

There are only 400 licensed home energy assessors throughout the United States. Portland is the 5th city in the US to adopt this policy. The class I attended was taught by one of the assessors and he gave us a brief overview of what will occur during these inspections on the home. Basically each home will get a score of 1-10. 10 being the lowest energy use and only top 10% of homes will get this rating. It’s easy to think that a newly built home will be in this top 10 tier but this idea was quickly shot down. Because these new homes have so much air space, higher ceiling, greater square footage overall than homes built in the 1940’s, they’re more than likely to fall in the middle at 5, the average.

45% of energy consumption in a home is from heating.

When inspecting the home, the assessor will not be looking at behavior of the homeowners, lighting use, appliances or electronics. However, they will be looking at the type of heating, hot water heater, ducts, and cooling systems. Window units used for AC will lower your score, I’d recommend removing them prior to the assessors arrival. Additionally, attics and roofs, insulation usage and air sealing, windows and skylights, foundation, number of stories, local climate, conditioned sq. footage, orientation of home and age will all be included when assessing the homes energy score. Skylights will lower the overall score due to the fact that heated air will collect up in these locations regardless of age and overall condition. Conditioned square footage is the areas that are heated or cooled in the home. If there is a vent, even just one, in the unfinished basement that lets out heat the entire square footage of this space will be included in that number.

 

Tips & Tricks to Up Your Score:

  • Insulate attic access panel
  • Leave no gaps in your homes insulation
  • Seal all ducting in the crawl space
  • Regularly clean and service heating systems
  • Electric heat is the most efficient (this was surprising to me!)
  • Limited conditioned areas

 

The report will cost between $150-$250 and come with a score and improvement suggestions for your home. There will be a $500