- The American Clean Energy Leadership Act and its implication on the construction industry Read more...
- Suburbia versus Traditional Neighborhood. What influences your customers’ buying decision? Read more...
- New marketing and technical tools are now available on arxx.com See the latest...
- Featured ARXX ICF project - 2011 IBS Vision House, Orlando See for yourself...
American Clean Energy Leadership Act (ACELA) and its Implication on the Construction Industry
The American Clean Energy Leadership Act (also known as the "Bingaman bill") which is currently in front of the Senate is not just advocating for green, energy efficient construction but actually mandating it. It also secures solid financial support to implement the green building requirements. This bill would:
- provide for creation of a national building code with 50% greater energy efficiency in 2016 than a 2004/06 baseline, and $100 million in incentives to states to develop that standard.
- establish an initiative to reduce energy consumed and increase renewable energy generated in residential buildings, which would include enabling all new residential buildings to be cost-effective, zero-net-energy buildings by 2020. Funding: $40 million for 2010; $60 million for each year 2011 and 2012; $100 million for each year 2013 to 2020.
- provide $250 million in each year from 2011 to 2015 to states for their energy programs
- establish voluntary reporting of building performance and require verification of energy savings when federal, state, local, or utility funding is used.
So what does all this mean to the building industry? It means new, cost-effective and high energy efficiency building materials like ARXX ICFs are positioned to emerge and take a dominate position in the market. Conventional construction methods and materials such as timber frame building will require costly enhancements and additional materials to achieve energy efficiency requirements and make their use cost-prohibitive in terms of both materials and labor.
With new government mandated initiatives such as ACELA, the building industry has to look for more energy efficient solutions. Products and systems that cost effectively provide a better building envelope will reduce the amount of times air is exchanged thus improving the buildings energy efficiency. Research has shown buildings built with ICFs generally require 44% less energy to heat and 32% less energy to cool. ICFs provide a cost effective way to achieve significant savings on heating and cooling costs and energy use. The value proposition for building with ICFs has never been stronger. ICFs provide a path to compliance for government led energy reduction standards such as ACELA. Visit www.arxx.com to find out more about the energy efficient properties of ARXX ICFs.
Suburbia versus Traditional Neighborhood. What Influences Your Customer’s Buying Decision?
A study published in the July 2010 issue of Landscape and Urban Planning suggests that suburban and traditional neighborhood preferences may be closer than they seem.
The study compared traditional neighborhoods, defined as ones built before WWII with moderate density, a grid-like street pattern, a mix of residential and commercial land uses, distinct centers, and an orientation to walking and transit rather than private automobiles, to more spread-out and economically segregated suburban neighborhoods. The purpose of the research was to determine who wants to live in both types of neighborhoods and why they want to live there.
The study polled just over 1,600 Northern California residents. Approximately 891 of the residents live in traditional neighborhoods and 791 reside in nearby suburban areas. The results highlighted the reasons that influenced neighborhood selection for people trying to select their “perfect place to live”. Diversity and liveliness are most important to those in traditional neighborhoods and people in suburbs value economic homogeneity and the perception of their neighbor’s economic status. Surprisingly, features such as parking, yard size and the quality of local schools did not emerge as important satisfaction factors for either of the polled groups. It concluded that regardless of where they lived, respondents’ ranked safety and attractiveness as the most important qualities in a neighborhood.
The study results substantiate the idea that innovative neighborhood designs are more likely to succeed in attracting residents regardless of their location, while would-be suburbanites might be just as satisfied in traditional neighborhoods with “new urbanist” designs. This provides the ability to boost customer demand for projects built in those communities and incorporate sustainable living with the aspects of the suburbs that make them desirable places to live. These types of neighborhoods could also provide a viable solution for developing lands previously thought as undesirable and help to solve the typical suburb problems such as dependence on automobiles and high demand on energy, land, and water uses.
New marketing and technical tools are now available on arxx.com
The latest marketing and sales materials available on arxx.com are specifically designed to address the ARXX ICF value proposition in key markets. They include:
We have also added more ARXX CAD details to our technical resources to help design professionals specify and plan with ARXX ICFs.