Lee Kitson: State keeps delaying energy savings

Changes to energy code would aid home buyers, if we had them in place

The state of Michigan continues to spend taxpayers' money to delay greater energy efficiency in home construction, despite rising energy costs.

For 18 months, starting in 2002, the Michigan Association of Home Builders participated on a state committee charged with developing changes to the Michigan Uniform Energy Code to make it even more energy efficient. Appointed by the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth, the committee included a wide cross-section of industry representatives from consumer, environmental, utility, builder, insulation companies, and the state energy office.

The committee unanimously agreed to revised, more-efficient, yet still cost-effective energy code changes after months of hard work and many compromises. The DLEG accepted the consensus changes to the MUEC and said they would be in use by the end of 2003.

The DLEG then unilaterally scrapped its own committee's work and, without going through the committee process, adopted an entirely new code, one desired and supported by environmental groups and various multinational corporations that produce high-end insulation and windows in locations around the world.

This new code, the International Energy Conservation Code, does not meet the requirements of state law. In fact, it's the latest version of the code the Legislature specifically repealed in 1995 and then outlawed in 1999 as not being right for Michigan.

To make sure low-income or first-time home buyers are not priced out of the market, Michigan law says that any new costs associated with energy code changes must pay for themselves in energy savings within seven years. If it costs an additional $4,500 for higher R-value insulation, windows or construction, there must be at least $643 per year in energy savings. This is one of the five cost-effectiveness tests any changes to Michigan's current energy code must meet.

Going into court to protect first-time home buyers was a last resort. We tried to the best of our ability to work with the Granholm administration to create a "win-win" solution on this issue, only to have our efforts continuously rebuffed.

In early 2005, Ingham County Circuit Court Judge Draganchuk agreed with the MAHB that this new code would cause irreparable harm to home buyers if it went into effect, and was later found to be illegal at the trial.

Yet, each time the trial date neared, the DLEG and its co-defendants filed motions that put off the trial, further delaying the adoption of cost-effective energy code changes for Michigan that should have been in effect in 2003.

Even the state's own experts say the consensus code changes "... provide(s) a significant increase in energy efficiency compared to Michigan's current requirements. In Marquette, the proposed changes bridge 84 percent of the gap (between Michigan's current requirements and the IECC) ..."

It's past time for the state to stop stalling and adopt its own committee's consensus energy code changes.

Lee Kitson is a Grand Rapids home builder who specializes in green building and energy-efficient homes. He is the 2006 Michigan Association of Home Builders president.