A Banner Year
Congratulations to all of our builders, developers and architects active in designing and building sustainable homes for our growing population. 2017 was a banner year for building certifications at Earth Advantage, so we’re sure you were busy too!
Earth Advantage Home Certification experienced a
9% growth rate in 2017, certifying
672 single family homes to our standard. Those homes averaged
3.1 ACH@50 pa and 27.1% more energy efficient than code! That’s outstanding performance and we applaud everyone who contributed to building those homes. We’re also excited that more and more builders are certifying their homes to our
Zero Energy and Zero Energy-Ready standard.
Our LEED® for Homes department certified
3,012 multifamily units last year, marking the first time we’ve gone over the 3,000 mark. Earth Advantage Multifamily Certification added another
522 multifamily certifications to our busy schedule last year. Many of the multi-family projects we’re certifying are low-income projects, and we’re especially excited to bring the benefits of high performance homes to those occupants. All over The Pearl, the Lloyd District and beyond you’ll see multi-family projects we’re certifying to a rigorous green building standard.
Important Energy Trust of Oregon Information
While we want to thank you for a fantastic year last year, we do have important information for those participating in the Energy Trust of Oregon’s New Homes program and it’s EPS performance based incentive.
As you're aware, the Oregon energy code in the 2017 ORSC, effective for all homes permitted on or after January 1, 2018, has increased energy efficiency requirements. In response, the Energy Trust of Oregon 2018 New Homes program will use a new baseline home in their model that reflects the code increase in energy efficiency. They will also have a new incentive calculation built into the 2018 model. We just received the 2018 software package from Energy Trust of Oregon, but our energy modeler has yet to run any homes through it. Your homes are still being run through the Energy Trust of Oregon 2017 New Homes program and it's EPS® scorecard and incentive structure. Simply put, the exact same home built in the 2018 Energy Trust of Oregon program will earn a smaller incentive than that home in the 2017 Energy Trust of Oregon program. But, you may be able to considerably delay the time when your firm must switch over to the 2018 Energy Trust of Oregon New Homes program.
We can enroll any home you build this year in the 2017 Energy Trust of Oregon New Homes program, comprising the 2017 EPS scorecard and performance incentive payment, as long as we enroll the home in Energy Trust of Oregon's database by March 31, 2018 and that home passes its final EPS inspection by December 31, 2018. All we need to enroll a home in Energy Trust of Oregon's database is a lot # and street name. We don't need to know now the model of home that will be built on that lot # and street name or the actual permit date of the home to be built. The home could be permitted in 2018 and still use Energy Trust of Oregon's 2017 EPS program as long as we enroll that home in Energy Trust of Oregon's database by March 31, 2018.
Homes enrolled on, or after, April 1, 2018 in Energy Trust of Oregon's database, or completed on or after January 1, 2019, regardless of when we enrolled the home in Energy Trust of Oregon's database, will have to use the 2018 ETO New Homes program EPS incentive pathway, which uses the new 2017 ORSC energy code as the baseline home. The 2017 Energy Trust of Oregon New Homes program EPS pathway uses the old energy code as the baseline home.
Because we expect many last-minute homes being submitted to us to enroll under the 2017 Energy Trust of Oregon program we ask that builders send their Green Building Consultant their list of homes by March 15, 2018.
