Abstract
This is an analysis of cost effectiveness the Council of American Building Officials` 1993 Model Energy Code (MEC) building thermal-envelope requirements for single-family houses and multifamily housing units in New Jersey. Goal was to compare the cost effectiveness of the 1993 MEC to the alternate allowed in the 1993 Building Officials & Code Administrators (BOCA) National Energy Conservation Code -- American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 90A-1980 -- based on a comparison of the costs and benefits associated with complying with each. This comparison was performed for Camden, New Brunswick; Somerville, and Sparta. The analysis was done for two different scenarios: a ``move-up`` home buyer purchasing a single-family house and a ``first-time`` financially limited home buyer purchasing a multifamily unit. For the single-family home buyer, compliance with the 1993 MEC was estimated to increase first costs by $1028 to $1564, resulting in an incremental down payment increase of $206 to $313 (at 20% down). The time when the homeowner realizes net cash savings (net positive cash flow) for houses built in accordance with the 1993 MEC was from 1 to 5 years. The home buyer who paid 20% down had recovered increases in down payments and mortgage payments in energy cost savings by the end of the fifth year or sooner and thereafter will save more money each year. For the multifamily unit home buyer first costs were estimated to increase by $121 to $223, resulting in an incremental down payment increase of $12 to $22 (at 10% down). The time when the homeowner realizes net cash savings (net positive cash flow) for houses built in accordance with the 1993 MEC was 1 to 3 years.
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