This Week's Codes and Standards, April 9

Boosting Energy Efficiency Helps Reduce Health Risks

By reducing power plant pollution, energy efficiency yields health benefits, according to research by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The ACEEE report, “Saving Energy, Saving Lives: The Health Impacts of Avoiding Power Plant Pollution with Energy Efficiency,” estimates the health and environmental benefits that would come from a nationwide 15% reduction in annual electric consumption. Power plant pollution contributes to heart attacks, respiratory conditions, asthma attacks, and premature death, the study says.
 
Nationwide, a 15% cut in electric consumption would result in more than six lives saved each day, up to $20 billion in avoided health harms, and nearly 30,000 fewer asthma episodes. The complexity of the electric grid, the location of power plants, wind patterns, and other factors influence where energy efficiency’s greatest health benefits would be realized.
 
A 15% reduction in electric demand is readily achievable, the report says.

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Urgent Need for Government to Make Communities, Infrastructure More Resilient

In 2017, 350 people died from wildfires, floods, cyclones, and other extreme weather events in the U.S. The government needs to do more to protect Americans from these events, which are becoming more deadly due to climate change, experts say. Weather disasters are also becoming increasingly costly.
 
Hurricanes Harvey, Maria, and Irma, along with wildfires and other weather disasters cost the nation a record $306 billion in 2017, which was the third warmest year on record. Government action to shore up infrastructure, homes, and businesses is critical because damaging weather events are becoming more frequent, says a professor at the University of Alaska's Institute of Arctic Biology.
 
Harbors, bridges, power plants, and other key infrastructure in vulnerable states, such as California, Alaska and Texas, need better protection from extreme weather. Roads, sewer systems, and train routes across the country are also likely to suffer as the climate changes.

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Cost-Reduction Roadmap Offers Pathways to 2030 Residential Solar Cost Target

The U.S. Department of Energy has a goal to reduce the cost of residential solar energy to $0.05 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) by 2030. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) offers cost-reduction opportunities to achieve this outcome.
 
Installing photovoltaics at roof replacement or as part of a new home construction process could enable significant cost savings. NREL’s modeling suggests that installing PVs on new housing developments could enable residential PV installation savings of 61% relative to the Q1 2017 benchmark system price. In existing homes, installing PVs when a roof is replaced could lead to 55% in savings relative to the Q1 2017 benchmark system price. To achieve the full cost savings potential, however, will require considerable business model and permitting process innovation.

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Homes With Higher HERS Scores Fetch Price Premium

The North Carolina Building Performance Association (NCBPA) found an average 9.5% premium for high performance homes sold in the three metro markets in 2015-2016. The report analyzed 34,152 high performance homes and buildings being built or retrofitted in North Carolina in 2016.
 
The study found that homes with HERS Index Scores between 40 and 89 fetched a price of between $85.89 and $162.52 per square foot.

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FEMA 100-year Floodplain Maps Underestimate Potential Flooding, Study Says

A study from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom found that Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) 100-year floodplain maps greatly underestimate the potential for flooding in the U.S. Some 40 million Americans are at risk of experiencing a flood, two-thirds more than FEMA maps indicate.
 
About $2.9 trillion worth of property is at risk, the report says. FEMA said that the maps are intended to inform insurance companies about flood risk and to identify high-hazard areas, not to identify all areas where flooding could occur.

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