Energy efficiency:Green homes for Illinois
As Illinois residents and businesses take steps to reduce their carbon footprint, our state still lags behind in one key area—new residential construction. While states like Iowa, Pennsylvania and Ohio have statewide residential building codes that require new homes to be more efficient, Illinois is one of only 10 states without minimum standards for energy efficiency in new homes.
A recent report revealed that while 57 percent of new residential construction in Iowa met Energy Star standards, the same was true of only 3 percent of new homes in Illinois.
“A new building can be energy efficient from its start or an opportunity is lost, and energy is wasted for the next 30 to 50 years—or more,” said Brian Granahan, Staff Attorney for Environment Illinois. “This lost opportunity manifests itself not only in greater global warming pollution from increased energy production, but also much higher energy and heating bills.”
The Energy Efficient Building Act
Environment Illinois is fighting for legislation mandating minimum energy-efficiency standards for new homes in Illinois. This bill—the Energy Efficient Building Act (SB 526)—adopts the latest International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) residential energy-efficiency standards for new home construction in Illinois, while still allowing home-rule for some municipalities with existing standards.
The Energy Efficient Building Act also bars homeowners associations from keeping their members from installing
solar panels.
Significant economic benefits
Efficiency enhances affordability in new home construction, and with our economy slumping, the Energy Efficient Building Act puts money in the pockets of Illinois residents through significantly lower monthly homeownership costs.
A 2007 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy found that Chicagoland residents building a new two-story, 2,400 sq. ft. home under the latest IECC standards would save up to $466 annually in utility bills. Any additional up-front construction costs would pay for themselves within, at most, three years.
Environmental benefits
The environmental benefits are significant. That same study concluded that upgrading to the latest IECC standards statewide would save 12.8 million tons of CO2 in Illinois by 2020 through decreased strain on local power plants—equivalent to taking over 8.5 million cars off the road for a full year.
Reduced power generation also means less smog and lowered mercury emissions.
Similar legislation (HB 1842) passed the Illinois House by a 74 to 38 margin in 2007, but stalled in the Senate. Environment Illinois and the bill’s sponsors—Rep. Julie Hamos (Evanston) and Sen. John Cullerton (Chicago)—are working hard to ensure that this legislation becomes law in 2008.
