When Southampton Town’s Energy Conservation code, sometimes called the Green Code or HERS—for “home energy rating system”—legislation, was first adopted in July 2008, all hell broke loose within the architecture and building communities, which acted as if asteroids were about to hit the planet.Although Southampton’s Energy Committee, composed mostly of lay people, had spent months formulating the goals and the requirements for the new legislation, its fast and furious rollout in the middle of the summer silly season left the professional communities with a sense of dismay since they had not been given the opportunity for input. In the months that followed, the professional community challenged aspects of the building science, the HERS index rating numbers and the time frame for implementation of the legislation.
After a symposium with Long Island Power Authority officials, and written recommendations submitted from architects, builders, engineers and swimming pool contractors, the Town Board added 20 amendments to the original legislation for final approval. The Peconic Chapter of the American Institute of Architects also lobbied the town successfully to push back implementation three months, to January 1, 2009.
The rationale behind the legislation was both politically motivated and pragmatic. Politically, the legislation was seen as social engineering, conceived to thwart the size of new houses in the township. By creating a sliding scale of energy compliance with the largest homes over 6,500 square feet requiring the mostly costly and drastic measures for compliance, compared to the less stringent requirements for smaller homes 3,500 square feet and under, the assumption was that the added cost of construction would be a deterrent with regard to creating mega-mansions and McMansions.
That wasn’t what happened. The problem was that if one had enough money to build a mega-mansion in the first place, then the additional costs incurred to create a super-energy-efficient residence translated simply into the cost of doing business. Additionally, homeowners erecting these houses over 6,500 square feet wound up with buildings that were remarkably economical to heat and cool while being extraordinarily comfortable on a thermal level.
On the pragmatic and rather noble side, the Southampton Town legislation, championed by Anna Throne-Holst, established construction requirements modeled after the Long Island Power Authority’s Clean Energy Star Initiative, which also exceeded the already progressive levels of energy efficiency required by New York State’s Energy Conservation Construction Code, based on compliance with HERS standards. The basic intent of the legislation, to put Southampton in the forefront of energy conservation as a municipality, turned out to be admirable, if not prescient.
In the six years since ratification, very few, if any, problems have been encountered by professionals working with this code. According to the town’s chief building inspector, Michael Benincasa, the HERS certificates for code compliance indicate that the new houses are performing better from an energy perspective than they were actually mandated to do. In regard to the building of large houses, he noted that the legislation hasn’t done anything to diminish house size. He also hasn’t heard of any problems regarding mold or sick house syndrome in these tightly insulated houses, which are required to have fresh air exchanges through mechanical ventilation.
Richard Fevola of Service Pro of the East End, a company that performs mold mitigation, noted that he sees mold problems in 1 percent of houses with spray foam insulation. The reason for this involves improper application of the foamed insulation, which can be affected by temperature and humidity conditions as well as incorrect mixing of the product. Under these circumstances the insulation will shrink in the wall cavity, and the voids created allow for moisture condensation leading to mold problems.
None of the architects interviewed regarding the energy conservation legislation has experienced technical problems with the new construction requirements. None has followed up on the thermal performance of their houses during the post-construction period. Architect Fred Throo observed that a study of performance over time would be beneficial. “Much of the system is dependent on mechanical ventilation and the fans utilized to achieve proper levels. Will performance change as equipment gets older, poor equipment maintenance, changes to interiors made without consideration to the thermal envelope, etc.? Time will tell.”
On the subject of energy savings offsetting the additional cost of construction, architect David Sherwood mentioned that a builder he knew had constructed the identical house in both East Hampton and Southampton. The Southampton house, with the HERS upgrade, cost $100,000 more to build. With a savings of $5,000 a year in energy costs the payback on the added construction cost for the end user will take 20 years.
A Southampton architect, Jason Poremba, looked at a recent bid with a HERS specification and calculated the cost of the insulation as being 2 percent of the overall project. High-efficiency heating and cooling units can be had for very reasonable costs, so when looking at the total picture, he observed one has to keep in mind the fact that “HERS is about an entire system of efficiencies.” The HERS guidelines have become the gold standard in his office for all projects.
Different architects use different methods of construction to comply with the code. Bill Chaleff, an architect whose practice has been in the forefront of energy-efficient design for more than 40 years, prefers structural insulated panels for new wall construction in all houses. For traditional wood frame construction he advocates blown-in cellulose because the walls remain tightly insulated but still allow for the material to breathe and for moisture to dry quickly and wick away from either the interior or exterior side of the wall.
Architect John David Rose prefers “flash and batt” for his wood-framed walls. The process involves spraying 2 inches of batt insulation against the exterior wall for a tight seal and filling the rest of it with traditional batt insulation, which allows for changes in wiring and plumbing long after the completion of construction. He, too, calls the Southampton energy code his “default” method for the construction of new homes. As an architect who has built houses in the 17,000- to 18,000-square-foot range, he says that these large homes, using a closed-loop geothermal heating and cooling system, consume no more energy than a conventional 6,000-square-foot home.
According to Frank Dalene of Telemark Construction, who also serves as the chairman of the East Hampton Sustainability Committee, East Hampton Town will be adopting the same energy code as Southampton’s in the very near future.
On the state level, the new requirements for the 2015 Energy Conservation Code will ratchet up energy standards and require blower door tests for all new houses in New York State.
All of these changes reflect a shift in cultural consciousness and an awareness of the fact that the consumption of non-renewable forms of energy has to be curtailed for the greater good.
Anne Surchin is an East End architect and writer currently working on a companion book to “Houses of the Hamptons 1880-1930.”
on Nov 20, 2014