The
Energy Efficiency Improvement Act of 2015, passed in the U.S. this
spring, includes provisions to support a program to improve energy efficiency practices in commercial buildings and require federal
agencies to utilize energy assessments in their leased buildings. It is expected, that in near time energy
efficiency legislation also will be extended to include incentives for
federal mortgage underwriters to take into account energy efficiency in the
process of valuing homes.
Recently there
has been a growing
interest by homeowners to improve energy efficiency - over 1.2 million
existing homes were upgraded to become more energy efficient between 2009 and
2012. Many lending institutions are seeing the value of providing loans for
energy efficiency measures. A research, conducted in the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, indicates that homeowners
with energy-efficient homes are less likely to default on their
mortgages. Therefore, mortgage underwriters could consider factoring
energy efficiency into their lending practices. This idea has support from
business leaders, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as from
consumer groups and environmental organizations.
