Home energy audits will soon become mandatory in Ontario under new provincial legislation (check http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_d...detail_the_bill or http://www.ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=2145 for more details).

All sellers of residential properties will have to purchase a home energy audit (cost approximately $300) before putting their property up for sale.

Some mixed reactions on this. Ontario Real Estate Association has rejected this legislation for fear it will be used to drive prices lower. Many others feel it is an necessary cost. It is already mandated in parts of Europe and has had the effect of improving the quality of housing stock. Others feel it will improve efficiency and allow the buyers to know the true cost of their home and where to make improvements in the future.

I'm curious, what are people's thoughts on this legislation?

It would certainly be a good tool for the buyer in negotiating the price, assuming the home had problems, as most older homes do. In my thinking, it might be more logical to have this audit fall under the recommended testing that buyers may want to have done.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/04/california-zero-emissions-homes.php

If I am reading the article correctly, San Diego Democratic assemblywoman Lori Saldana is sponsoring a bill requiring every new home in California to be zero net energy or better by 2020. That seems like a very big order, since her bill would require all homes to give power back into the grid by 2020. However, a recent environmental study in Texas concluded that requiring all new builder homes to be "net-zero" homes by 2015 would eventually cut energy demand so much that seven power plants would NOT have to be built and consumers would save more than $5 billion. I wonder how many factors have been left out of the headlines. Just one thought that comes to mind...when builders pass on the cost to consumers, will consumers opt for smaller SF new homes to make up the difference...or just head to existing homes? It will be interesting to be an agent over the next 10 years and watch all this play out. I just wish the new builder homes that went up in the past 10 years could have been a little more green. For that I blame building codes as much as builders.

After the massive earthquake in California in the 1980's, a lot of major changes were made in building codes. The word "retrofitting" came into it's own as older buildings were brought up to code. After Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Katrina, we again saw changes in the building codes. Other types of necessary government intervention impact housing...such as insulation requirements, just to name one that has helped everyone...and elevation codees. Let's post this type information in this thread.

http://www.mississippirenewal.com/#

Page down when you get to this site and find Cottages and ?, then look for link to Smart Codes. Planned cities are logical and very promising...but can they be affordable? Look for the artist renderings of the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. This site offers hope that recovery is possible.

I found this when looking for the Katrina cottage floor plans.

WEATHER IMPACTING BUILDING CODES - STRANGE WEATHER FOR FAROE ISLANDS

One of my hobbies is using Google maps to find ways to visit places without flying. I was looking at the Google map of my latest fantasy trip from Houston to England (via Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Scotland) using short boat trips. That is how I stumbled across the Faroe Islands on the map...a member of the Danish family, located NW of Scotland. Wondering what I would find if I made a pit stop on a boat ride from Iceland to Scotland, I Goggled them. Wow, this is one of the most beautiful settings I have ever seen...rugged hills and valleys with huge cliffs at the ocean. Today's Faroe Islands landscape is full of beautiful homes, many with colored roofs...in fact, what they have done with color is quite impressive. From the modern to the quaint, just click the link to see this great place...and the best green roof yet...it comes with it's own oversized mountain goat ready for his dinner. Click the link to see the goats and colorful roofs...or just go to www.faroeislands.com and view the gallery.

http://www.faroeislands.com/Default.aspx?pageid=9715

I was surprised to learn this place is a bit of a music festival hot spot since it is so far north. Music is very much a part of their lifestyle. ..which includes a lot of community and cultural events. I found a site that gives a very detailed and surprising view of the Faroe Islands weather. Apparently the Gulf Stream helps out a lot. Winters are not nearly as harsh as some would think for islands this far north. A couple of months in the summer are mostly daylight. They have a lot of misty fog, experience droughts that lead to water rationing, and always have clean, fresh air. In the winter, winds of hurricane force hit the islands and eventually cause giant waves that are several stories high. These waves create huge sprays of water when they hit the cliffs and have been known to flip a truck, according to this site. View this link to see what a strange mixture of weather conditions these islands experience. The unusually warm conditions for their location would explain why life looks fairly normal in the photos. Needless to say, homes on the islands are built to withstand these strange weather conditions...or they would probably not last long. Here's the weather link...fascinating.

http://www.heinesen.fo/faroeislandsreview/climate.htm

I went to www.wunderground.com (my hurricane info source) and found that today the temp in the Faroe Islands was 54 degrees and tonight it will be 44, so I am thinking these home do have insulation demands when winter rolls around.

Since the islands are a part of Denmark, I had to look in that direction for building code info but found nothing specific. I did discover that the EU is considering a new building code patterned after the Denmark code, which is much more strict. I also read that the EU feels like a lot of the homes that went up in Europe (if I am interpreting this correctly) during the latest building boom missed the boat because the codes had not been updated for a while...so I guess all countries have similar housing issues. This search also uncovered that there will soon be a new building code in Pakistan to address the recent disaster issues there. Slowly building codes are improving but with close to seven billion people now walking around, will housing ever keep up with the demand? The recent disasters around the world have brought new attention to alternative housing for those suddenly without a place to live. With a world-wide depressed economy, this old earth can hardly afford any more of these mega disasters. If improved building codes can help in these areas prone to disasters without severely impacting the economy, then the time may be here to take that step...if the money can be found for these poor countries. Go to this link and decide if we will have any hope of providing housing for all these people...the numbers are shocking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population

At any rate, returning to the Faroe Islands, the goat in the link (www.faroeislands.com - view the gallery when you get there) is happy with his current green roof restaurant and would probably not like to be locked out by an insulated new-age roofing product over a house, a garage or even a backyard shed. He doesn't even look like he minds the cold.

For other green roof examples, please visit the Strange or Unique Homes & Structures thread.

If you are planning a vacation or trip to an unfamiliar country, you may want to check out the weather and let us know what you find and how the houses are built to handle it.