Nikhil_Nadkarni_Thesis_Final

Takeaways There are several lessons to be learned from Austin’s implementation of ECAD. First, a building labeling requirement that encompasses all buildings enables consistent and comparable energy assessments across homes of all types. Austin’s ECAD requirements cover all homes, exempting only mobile and trailer homes. As a result, prospective homeowners can compare the energy efficiency of a new home to their current home (comparing between single-family homes is difficult due to disclosure only during the option period).

Second, required disclosure to all prospective tenants (of multifamily buildings) can enable comparisons during the decision-making process. As a result of ECAD, apartment hunters can view the energy performance of any unit in a multifamily building they are considering, and, in fact, are made aware if they are considering a unit in an especially inefficient building. This enables apartment hunters to consider and compare energy performance during decision-making.

Third, regarding single-family homes, a requirement to disclose to prospective buyers during the option period has its advantages but leaves room for improvement. In the initial version of ECAD, disclosure for single-family home energy audits was required simply “before the sale,” which resulted in sellers disclosing the audit results during closing (ACEEE 2011b). Disclosure is needed much earlier in the home-buying process if it is to help new buyers negotiate improvements to the home. As a result, the City Council amended ECAD to move the disclosure requirement to three days before the end of the option period. However, it is important to note that this still doesn’t enable comparisons between a prospective buyer’s homes of interest: the prospective buyer only receives the audit results when negotiating the purchase of a house, not during the house viewing and visiting process.

Fourth, having a finite period of validity for energy audits – i.e., an expiration time – means that extremely old audits are not being used for sale or lease transactions. This provides more accurate 41