Real estate Energy Star building practices can apply to new homes or upgrades

The Energy Star system allows builders to be flexible on their energy saving techniques as long as the end result reaches the optimum efficiency. According to Jones, builders are free to mix and match product upgrades and improved techniques to meet their bottom line and their client's approval. This allows builders around the country to adapt to individual regional requirements, while maintaining the same national standard across the U.S.

Older homes can be upgraded by adding insulation, installing efficient air conditioning and high performance windows, said Jones. However, he added that no matter what you do to improve energy efficiency, you cannot match the efficiency of building these features into a home during initial construction.

"We've always believed that the financial return on an energy-efficient investment was real, but we never had the proof until now," Bobroff said.  "Homes that meet federal Energy Star standards don't look any different than other homes, but they can save anywhere from $50 to $200 per month in utility bills," said Pierce Jones, assistant director of the UF Energy Extension Service. For example, he said, a 1998 Energy Star home averaged $197 a month in energy savings over a virtually identical home built only seven years earlier. The average monthly utility bill on the 1991 home was $320.42 while the monthly utility bill on the 1998 Energy Star home was $123.25. The cost savings were calculated for the period of April to December 1998.

Jones, a professor with the UF Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, is working to help educate builders, developers, real estate agents, and mortgage lenders to see the potential and impact these houses have on their community's economy and environment.