LEED for Homes Illinois

In partnership with the Better Buildings Better Business (B4) conference for residential building professionals, AES will be offering a full day LEED for Homes Workshop on Tues. January 31, 2012 in Schaumburg, IL.

As shown in the photo, this workshop pulled in 20 developers, designers, builders and architects when held on Nov. 11 in Chicago, and now will be offered again for those that were unable to attend.

HOMES 252: Understanding the LEED for Homes Rating System

Course Description:

In today’s business, LEED is the language of green. LEED for Homes is a green rating system for mixed-use multi-family buildings, up to six stories in height, as well as single-family homes. This course provides an introduction to the LEED for Homes rating system and delivery model. The course addresses the intents and requirements of prerequisites and key credits within the rating system while providing real world examples of strategies to meet them. The course also identifies the roles and responsibilities of key stakeholders and a LEED for Homes project and is designed to prepare the professional to plan for key considerations and requirements for the LEED certification process.

We’ve stripped pricing to the bone to just cover costs and are able to make this available for the special rate of $159.00!

Register Now for just $159!

Learn more about the Better Buildings, Better Business conference!

Early Bird Rate just $299 ends Nov 15!

The residential building and remodeling community in Illinois will have an opportunity to prepare for new energy efficiency standards at the Better Buildings: Better Business Conference®, Jan. 31 – Feb. 2, 2012 in Schaumburg, Ill. As part of the conference, AES will be offering a full-day pre-conference workshop HOMES 252: Understanding LEED for Homes for a special price of just $159!

The conference is being brought to Illinois in response to energy efficiency initiatives that will be affecting the building industry in 2012 and beyond. Under legislation passed in 2007, electric utilities in Illinois must reduce overall electric usage by 2 percent of demand by 2015. These are among the most ambitious energy efficiency standards in the nation.

Similarly, the state’s natural gas utilities are being challenged by law to meet new energy efficiency goals.

In support of these ambitious energy efficiency goals, Illinois utilities are introducing incentive programs that are designed to foster the use of energy efficient products and technologies in residential buildings. Several of the state’s major utilities are co-sponsoring the conference, including Ameren, ComEd, Nicor Gas and People’s Gas / North Shore Gas.

In addition, the State of Illinois will be adopting the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) in June 2012. This code is significantly more stringent than the 2009 IECC, requiring more building insulation, a tighter envelope, mandatory whole-house ventilation, tighter ducts, better windows and more efficient lighting.

“Energy efficiency is an emerging area of focus for the residential building community in Illinois,” said Marge Anderson, associate director of the Energy Center University. “There is a significant need for education on all aspects of high performance homes, including reduced energy use, occupant safety and comfort, money-saving measures and issues of sustainability. There are also significant business opportunities for those who get in early on the energy efficiency movement, because they will be ready to provide their customers with appropriate products, services and technologies.”

The Better Buildings: Better Business Conference will feature more than 70 sessions addressing challenges and solutions for the home building and remodeling industry. Attendees will include builders, remodelers, architects, contractors, consultants, multifamily housing owners and managers, HVAC contractors, weatherization specialists and others in the residential building community.

Session tracks will address various aspects of high performance homes, such as indoor air quality, insulation and air sealing, HVAC, weatherization and more. The conference will also incorporate workshop tracks on building science, architecture and design, and business development. A building clinic will offer live demonstrations and hands-on learning opportunities. The complete conference program is available at www.betterbuildingsil.org.

The Appraisal Institute, the nation’s largest professional association of real estate appraisers, has made it easier to identify attributes of green homes. Last week, they released a form intended to help analyze values of energy-efficient home features. It is the first of its kind intended for appraisers’ use, and can identify LEED homes.

The new form is intended to be used as an optional addendum to Fannie Mae Form 1004, the appraisal industry’s most widely used form for mortgage lending purposes. Used by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration, Form 1004 is completed by appraisers to uphold safe and sound lending. Currently, the contributory value of a home’s green features is rarely part of the equation.

“This addendum is another example of how the Appraisal Institute is at the forefront of real estate valuation,” said Appraisal Institute President Joseph C. Magdziarz, MAI, SRA. “It will help the industry standardize the way residential energy-efficient features are analyzed and reported.”

The Appraisal Institute’s addendum allows appraisers to identify and describe a home’s green features, from solar panels to energy-saving appliances. Form 1004 devotes limited attention to energy efficient features, so green data usually doesn’t appear in the appraisal report, or it is included in a lengthy narrative that often is ignored.

Magdziarz pointed out that the Appraisal Institute’s form also will make it easier for appraisers to determine whether recent home sales should be used as comparable sales. Sales that are truly comparable are key components in determining a property’s value.

While the addendum won’t guarantee that an appraiser will raise a property’s value by tens of thousands of dollars for energy-efficient upgrades, it should guarantee at a minimum that energy improvements will be taken into account based on value adjustments consistent with local market conditions. More importantly, appraisers using the new addendum should be better equipped to identify accurate, area-specific comparable sales.

One of the interesting aspects of the form is the emphasis given to describing how renewable energy systems such as solar photovoltaic. The form has an area where data collected by the appraiser could easily be used to calculate the net present value (NPV) of the energy savings from a solar energy system.

It’s worth noting that this is an optional addendum to a traditional 1004 appraisal form. Hopefully the lending community will embrace this and builders, architects, lenders, appraisers, and other real estate professionals all find value in encouraging the use of this form for green homes.

Download the Appraisal Institute’s two-page green addendum at http://www.appraisalinstitute.org/education/downloads/AI_82003_ReslGreenEnergyEffAddendum.pdf.

Learn more about the form and how it will be used at a webinar on Nov. 17.

LEED for Homes project teams that sign up for USGBC’s Building Performance Partnership (BPP) are now eligible to earn an optional point in Innovation and Design (ID) point for Utility Tracking, which will be done via EarthAid.net.

For the residential market, providing performance data for energy and water usage after occupancy is not required as in other Read more » »

Energy Smart Home Builders Joins the LEED for Homes
Green Certification Program

NEW LENOX, Ill. (April 22, 2010) – The Alliance for Environmental Sustainability (AES) is proud to welcome Energy Smart Home Builders of New Lenox, IL as a participant in LEED for Homes. LEED for Homes is a national third-party certification system for energy efficient, healthy, green homes. Energy Smart Home Builders, founded by Phil and Jim Regan, are planning to develop Prairie Ridge Estates, a community of 132 net zero energy homes using solar panels, geothermal power, wind turbines and other technologies. AES will be providing support and the third-party testing and verification for the green homes, which are planned to achieve LEED Platinum certification. Read more » »

On January 29th 2010, the Energy Efficient Building Act became effective in Illinois for most new residential construction and remodeling in Illinois.  What does this mean for builders and project teams in Illinois? If you’re going to be constructing to the new building code, you are implementing many strategies that can earn credit in LEED for Homes. Read more » »

Ever wonder what goes into making a LEED Platinum candidate home? Now is your chance to tour a home going through the LEED for Homes program that is substantially complete. And best of all, the tour is free. Read more » »