Houston is #1 Again (Dallas, San Antonio, Austin: new house, zoned, move)

[houstoner]

I saw this on another forum. It looks like Houston isn't just the energy capital of the world, but energy efficiency capital to boot. Congrats, H-town!

Energy Star homes reach 1 million, EPA says | Greenspace | Los Angeles Times


1.Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, Texas: 144,420
2.Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas: 102,872
3.Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev.: 79,929
4.Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, Ariz.: 73,021
5.Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana; Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario: 53,673
6.New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, N.Y.: 25,168
7.Tucson: 18,970
8.San Antonio: 18,847
9.Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, Calif.: 18,208
10.San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos: 17,515
11.Columbus, Ohio: 17,396
12.Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa: 16,400
13.Indianapolis-Carmel, Ind.: 13,675
14.Austin-Round Rock, Texas: 13,232
15.Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, Pa.: 12,454
16.San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont: 10,523
17.Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Mass., and N.H.: 10,192
18.Denver-Aurora, Colo.: 7,809
19.Orlando-Kissimmee, Fla.: 7,619
20.Oklahoma City, Okl.: 7,498

[Supermac34]

Energy efficient homes are a market driven thing. The fact that you run air conditioners here nine months out of the year drives the need for the most efficient homes possible.

[vicket]

Originally Posted by Supermac34

Energy efficient homes are a market driven thing. The fact that you run air conditioners here nine months out of the year drives the need for the most efficient homes possible.

NINE months?????

[tstone]

Originally Posted by vicket

NINE months?????

Yeah, that's not right.

It's closer to 10 months.

Even in cooler months you have to remove the humidity for things to stay clean & comfortable.

[SteveArmy]

yay.

[EasilyAmused]

Um, I at least run my AC a few times during all 12 months.But for sure 9 months of non stop energy chewing.

Those 45 to 80 degree swings are killer in the "Winter."

[feufoma]

Interesting...supposedly "green" Austin has a paltry number of Energy Star homes by comparison. Another example of Austin boosterism being inverse to reality!

[Grunn]

The USA doesn't constitute 'the world'.

[jd433]

And the reasons are

1) Houston has built the most new homes over the last few years.

2) the last few years is when the whole energy star rating thing has become popular.


3) End of story.

If you notice, the list is strangly similar to a list of the metros that have built the most new homes in the last few years. Why Atlanta isn't on there too I don't know.

[professorsenator]

Originally Posted by bostoner

I saw this on another forum. It looks like Houston isn't just the energy capital of the world, but energy efficiency capital to boot. Congrats, H-town!

Energy Star homes reach 1 million, EPA says | Greenspace | Los Angeles Times

What a ridiculous ranking! The ranking is of new energy star homes built. It does not control for homes as a percentage of the overall housing stock (i.e population), nor does it rank efficiency of overall energy use.

Thus, all a community needs to rank high is to 1) be big (i.e. where lots of houses are likely to be built); and 2) have a growing population (i.e. where demand for new housing is high); and 3) have few restrictions (governmental or market) on building new houses.

Houston and DFW (and most of the other top ranked places) fit all three of these requirements: they're big metro areas, they have had growing populations, and land is cheap, plentiful, and not restrictively zoned. Austin is smaller; hence, ranks lower. Well, duh!

This ranking's methodology is so deeply flawed that it really doesn't tell you much at all about energy efficiency, only about growth.