H.R. 2998 Not the Answer to a Secure Energy Future, Says NAHB

WASHINGTON--(Business Wire)--
American home buyers deserve a more equitable solution than the American Clean
Energy and Security Act as Congress moves to cut our nation`s energy use, says
the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

"The hard truth is that we can`t build our way out of this problem," said NAHB
Chairman Joe Robson, a builder and developer in Tulsa, Okla. "We need to make
sure our utilities more efficiently generate and transmit power. We need to make
our existing housing stock more energy efficient. We need to reduce our `plug
load` - home appliances, televisions and computers - and make these products
more energy efficient. This bill`s focus on new home construction won`t get us
very far at all."

The House of Representatives on June 26 passed H.R. 2998, sweeping legislation
that requires new homes to be built 30 percent more energy efficiently than
mandated in the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code. That number
increases to 50 percent by 2014 and then increases 5 percent every three years.

"That`s simply too far, too fast," Robson said. "The market is not geared up to
supply the necessary materials and equipment, and that`s going to drive up
costs. The result will be fewer working-class families in these new
energy-efficient homes. They`ll be relegated to older, less efficient housing
stock and face ever higher utility bills."

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, homes are responsible for about 21
percent of the energy consumed each year. "Forcing more regulation on a fraction
of those homes just won`t move the needle," Robson said.

Nor does H.R. 2998 do much to address the more than 94 million homes built
before 1991, when energy efficiency codes became the norm. The bill misses the
mark because older, inefficient homes are the source of the vast majority of
energy loss associated with buildings.

However, home builders and remodelers can and do play an important part in
helping to reduce the nation`s energy dependence, Robson pointed out. "The NAHB
National Green Building Program is educating our builders and their customers
and providing stringent, third-party certification for all green homes," he
said. "Our members are eager to go green because that`s what their customers
want, and building in energy efficiency is a very important part of sustainable
construction."

Robson called on Congress to create more balance in the final legislation by
taking a page from solutions that already have reaped great benefits - such as
this year`s tax breaks for energy-efficient appliance, window and insulation
purchases that can spur home owners to make needed changes to their homes. A
more reasonable goal, such as a 30 percent increase in residential energy
efficiency by 2012, a resolution unanimously passed by the NAHB Board of
Directors, makes more sense, he said.

"This isn`t about making it easier on builders. It`s about coming up with a
solution that makes sense and takes a balanced approach - not one that looks
only to new buildings for energy reductions," Robson said. "We are at a
particularly fragile point in our economic recovery, and saddling home buyers
with additional costs makes it even more difficult to get a mortgage when credit
is already tight.

"Let`s look at ways to recover the energy lost in utility transmission. Let`s
incentivize innovation in renewable energy. Not only can we not afford such
drastic change to new home construction, but more importantly, we cannot afford
to wait for new homes to solve this problem," Robson said.

ABOUT NAHB: The National Association of Home Builders is a Washington,
D.C.-based trade association representing more than 200,000 members involved in
home building, remodeling, multifamily construction, property management,
subcontracting, design, housing finance, building product manufacturing and
other aspects of residential and light commercial construction. Known as "the
voice of the housing industry," NAHB is affiliated with more than 800 state and
local home builders associations around the country. NAHB's builder members will
construct about 80 percent of the new housing units projected for 2009.

NAHB
Calli Schmidt
Cell: 301-706-5300
cschmidt@nahb.com
www.nahb.org

Copyright Business Wire 2009