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Studies: Enlist Existing Homes in the Fight Against Global Warming

This El Cerrito bungalow, built in 1949, received a retrofit in 2007 as part on an Energy-Efficient Home Makeover contest co-sponsored by Flex Your Power. The new ConSol studies argue that retrofitting existing homes in California is 4- to 8 times more carbon- and cost-efficient than further boosting the efficiency of new homes (Photo: Sustainable Spaces)

Two new studies by the consultancy ConSol for California’s homebuilders argue that because new homes already meet the greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets outlined in AB 32 focus must shift to the state’s existing housing stock for further emissions cuts. In Carbon Footprint of Single-Family Residential New Construction, which was prepared for the California Building Industry Association, the study found that new homes built in California from 2006 to the present produce 25% fewer GHG than an average home built in 1990. In Meeting AB 32 — Cost Effective Green House Gas Reductions in the Residential Sector, which was prepared for the California Homebuilding Foundation, ConSol found that single-family homes built before California’s Title 24 building energy efficiency standards took effect in 1983 account for 70% of GHG emissions from the residential sector. The study further found that retrofitting existing homes would yield far more total GHG reductions than making already efficient new homes more so. For example, the study found that spending $10,000 to upgrade a 1960s home would prevent 8.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually, but spending $5,000 to bring a home built to the 2005 Title 24 standards up to the 2008 requirements would reduce emissions by just 1.1 tons.