I was very happy to see this article in the Washington Post this morning:
New homes built in Montgomery County would have to meet federal energy efficiency standards under innovative legislation approved yesterday by the County Council over the objections of builders who said that the mandate would drive up costs for consumers.The measure, meant to reduce energy consumption by 15 to 30 percent, is part of a far-reaching environmental initiative. It includes property tax credits for residents who switch to renewable energy, a requirement that residents disclose utility costs when they sell a home and a plan to get county officials to trade in their government-issued sport-utility vehicles.
"We are attacking literally every source of greenhouse gas that exists and ensuring that our county and our citizens use less energy," said council member Roger Berliner (D-Potomac-Bethesda), lead sponsor of the measures and an energy lawyer.
That's great news, and exactly what other counties should be doing. For instance, what about Fairfax County, which announced in March 2007 that it was signing on to the Sierra Club's ambitious "Cool Counties" program? Among other things, Fairfax County pledged to "stop increasing emissions by 2010, and to achieve a 10 percent reduction every five years thereafter through to 2050."
Uh, hello? It's 2008, and I haven't heard anything in the past year about anything that would "stop increasing emissions by 2010" in Fairfax County. Have I completely missed something here or what? I've talked to people in Fairfax County and they haven't heard of anything either. Well, guess what, 2010 is just 1 year and 8 months away. How's Fairfax County planning on stopping the increase in GHG emissions by then? Or was this just feel-good "greenwashing" by Gerry Connolly and company (leading into a year in which he knew he'd be running for Congress - hmmmm....) all along? I'm really starting to suspect that might have been the case; if it wasn't, then why haven't we seen actions like Montgomery County is taking?
By the way, not to pick on Fairfax County exclusively, but what has my own county, Arlington, been doing since it also adopted "Cool Counties" last year? If stuff's been going on, it's certainly been vewy vewy qwiet. Maybe everyone's off hunting...uh, money to close their massive budget deficits?
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, at its regular meeting today, approved a resolution pledging to implement greenhouse gas emission reduction actions as part of the National Capitol Region's Cool Capital Challenge.
What someone does by themselves on their own land with their own materials should be their own business unless they are hurting someone else. Like putting in a septic system that would poison the ground water, or excavating so much soil that run-off causes erosion on neighboring properties and unacceptably high sediment levels in streams. That sort of thing is important to prevent. But I think that higher energy standards for homes is something that should only be enforced through regulation of commerce. It would be more fair than making it a blanket requirement while not particularly reducing the overall effectiveness of the requirements, since so few people build or remodel through their own labor.
Anyone have specific details on the new construction requirements involved here? Does it just address R levels generally, or are specific methods of reaching those levels prescribed?
If the regulations are valid for someone (a developer in this case) building a lot of homes, why should they not be valid for someone building a single home? In the end each single unit either complies or doesn't and it doesn't matter who built it.
From a practical perspective you do argue that very few individuals will build their own homes, therefore the overall effect would be minimal. While it's true, I don't buy that as a legitimate argument for allowing that small group to operate outside rules that should be applied to everyone.