By Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 FM reporter
Frisco and Dallas TX – Bill Zeeble, KERA 90.1 Reporter: Energy-efficient construction, with the latest off-the shelf materials and technology, cuts more than 30% off utility bills
Barbara Harwood, President, Enviro Custom Homes: It's quiet, hear it? Listen.
[Ambient sound]
Zeeble: Barbara Bannon Harwood, President of Enviro Custom Homes, built her company's state of the art energy-efficient home in Frisco a couple years ago.
Harwood: It's quiet. You get little noise from outside 'cause of the way it's built. And the system runs very little. It's a geo-thermal heat pump, which is the most efficient. It almost never runs 'cause the house is so efficient, it doesn't have to. Now the solar panels are producing power from the roof and the meter is backwards because solar is feeding into the electric system and running the bill backwards.
Zeeble: Harwood says this particular home is about as "green" as any she builds. It meets - sometimes exceeds - all of Frisco's new standards for energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality, and water recycling. Standards, for example, that require drought-tolerant landscaping and a composting system. It also uses the EPA's energy star rating system that measures a home's energy efficiency. Frisco insists on a higher minimum rating than many home builders now meet. Harwood: They're more efficient than the average house by twice. Twice as efficient as the house next door.
Jeff Witt, Senior Planner, City of Frisco: We're following a strategy of crawl, walk, run. This is the crawling phase.
Zeeble: Jeff Witt, Frisco's Senior Planner, was the driving force behind this program adopted unanimously by the city council in May. It came out of the city's millennium plan that pushed updated environmental policies, and his own belief that such standards would save energy costs for homeowners and the city, while expanding the market for builders selling to educated, choosy buyers. He said builders were involved from the start.
Witt: We wanted to make sure we set up a program so everyone, from production builders to high-ceiling custom, could get on board with it; and as their learning curve increases and they get more comfortable with process and how you think of a home, then there'll be amendments that'll bring bar a little higher.
Zeeble: Witt says the city's ordinance adds between $1500 and $3000 to the home's initial price while increasing its re-sale value. And in a few years, he says it'll more than pay for itself. During the searing, seemingly eternal Texas summers, when the air conditioner can burn up a utility budget, the goal is to keep the cold air in. Witt believes Frisco's ordinance might keep tempers cool too, and make families happier. Witt: Once the building boom is over, there are two entities we'll need to live with in the aftermath: the city and citizens. We wanted to make sure we provided the best possible product for citizens and [pounding table] for the city. The family unit is the building block of a community. That's something we really want to maintain. If you have a home that's more energy-efficient and lower-maintenance and higher-durability, that's a key component.
Zeeble: All that was important when the Abbotts looked for a home in Frisco more than a year ago. They bought Barbara Harwood's model home. Michael Abbott says he and his wife liked the energy benefits but also the look of the house. Because it was not weirdly modern or ugly.
Michael Abbott, Frisco homeowner: You see, you can have what's thought of as a normal house. A nice, open light house, with style details you'd like, and yet still incorporate energy efficiency to it that're completely transparent to the owner.
Zeeble: Frisco's Jeff Witt says the next step will up efficiency standards for commercial buildings, while providing answers to surrounding cities curious about Frisco's ordinance.
Witt: One city doing this is neat. Having a whole region is incredible. As for having a tremendous impact, we need to start doing this as a region and as a nation.
Zeeble: For KERA 90.1, I'm Bill Zeeble.