You have to build right the first time
When homebuilders around the country whine about ever more stringent energy efficiency building codes, they invariably point out that if the nation were serious about reducing global warming, we would go after existing building stock.
They have a point — up to a point. Not so true for Santa Fe. Here, we have to do it right the first time.
Energy efficiency in homes is largely scored on a scale of zero to 100, lower being better and zero indicating a net-zero energy home. It doesn’t mean the home uses no energy, but with solar panels, it can put as much energy back into the grid as it uses, thus net zero.
The scale uses a permanent baseline of the 2006 version of the International Energy Efficiency Code, meaning a home built exactly to that code would achieve a score of 100. New Mexico is on the 2009 version of that code, which presumes a home built to that code would get a score in the mid-80s. Better.
New Mexico is likely to soon adopt the 2018 version of that code, which means the scores of homes built exactly to that code would be in the low 70s. Better yet.
Santa Fe, by comparison, mandates all new homes must achieve a 60 or better, and our average for new homes is in the mid-50s. That’s the best.
On the other hand, Santa Fe has lots of homes built long before the 2006 codes, some hundreds of years before. That means the average score of all Santa Fe homes is way above 100, which is why a focus on increasing the energy efficiency of existing buildings is valid.
What is the best way to do that? It has long been accepted that the easiest way is increasing the depth of insulation in ceilings. Easy, right? Just get up in the attic and blow in more insulation. Easy back East, perhaps, but
there is no attic on a flat-roofed Santa Fe house, so it’s not so easy. In most cases, it’s impossible.
What about windows? Yes, the technology of windows has certainly evolved since legacy builder Allan Stamm installed single-paned, steel frame-divided windows in Casa Solana. Modern windows are at least three times more efficient than those.
In the East, where most windows have wide exterior trim around the casing, it’s pretty easy to pop off the trim, pull the nails out of setting flanges, remove the old windows, put in new ones and then nail the trim back in place.
In Santa Fe, we typically don’t do exterior trim. Instead, we concrete the windows into place with rounded stucco corners. Concrete stucco in Casa Solana is sidewalk hard, which means hammering out the old stucco to get to the setting flanges behind the stucco and then lathing and stuccoing in the new ones.
You’ve probably seen gray smears around windows that have recently been replaced. They often remain in that condition for a long time — until the homeowner can afford to color coat the entire house — because color coating just the gray patches never matches the existing color. The efficiency payback to that expense is measured in decades.
What can those who own old homes do? Not much. Replacing all lightbulbs with high-efficiency LED bulbs is a start. The next easiest thing is replacing old mechanical equipment — furnaces, boilers and water heaters — with the most efficient on the market.
Unless one is contemplating a whole-house remodel, at which time energy efficiency upgrades are required by our local codes, the choices for energy efficiency upgrades are pretty limited. That’s why it is so important that Santa Fe homes are done right the first time.
Kim Shanahan is a longtime Santa Fe builder and former executive o∞cer of the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association. Contact him at shanafe@aol.com.