Monday, March 29, 2010

Home Star Beginning to Move in Congress

Home Star is a proposed $6 billon rebate program for homeowners to improve the energy performance of their homes. The proposal is gaining momentum in Congress. Earlier this week the the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment completed its markup of the Home Star Retrofit Act of 2010 and passed the bill to the full House Committee on Energy and Commerce by voice vote.
On March 25 the Home Star Energy Retrofit Act of 2010 (S.3177) was introduced in the Senate. The Senate bill enjoys bipartisan support. It is sponsored by the chairman of the Senate Energy Committee (Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and cosponsored by Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Mark Warner (D-VA).
For more information on the proposed Home Star program click on http://www.resnet.us/homestar/default.htm

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Tax Credits and Ratings, 2009.

RESNET has completed its survey on the number of tax credit verifications and ratings that were completed in 2009.

In 2009 97,495 homes were rated. This is down from 100,045 homes that were rated in 2008. But the reduction is not as great as the reduction in the number of homes built in the U.S. This means that while the housing market continues to dip the number of ratings is holding pretty steady.

The story is even better for the federal tax credit for new homes. In 2009 the numbers of homes verified as meeting the tax credit was 26,598. This is up from the 21,939 homes that were verified in 2008.

This demonstrates the effectiveness of the tax credit for energy efficient homes. While the housing market continues to be in a depression, more builders are seeing the economic value of building homes that are rated as high performing. It is appropriate that the extension of the tax credit has been approved by the U.S. Senate and awaiting approval by the House.

My congratulations to the nation's raters who have tirelessly worked with their builders to improve home performance even in these hard economic times.


Steve Baden
Executive Director
RESNET