Title 24 07.14According to the National Association of Home Builders or NAHB, over 80% of today’s home buyers want energy-saving features in newly constructed homes. The Title 24 energy code standards are working to achieve that for both the builder and the buyer. With a requirement of all new homes being built to net-zero energy standards by 2020, we still have quite the adventure ahead of us.
There’s a new set of 2016 standards in effect starting January 1, 2017, that will accept solar electricity as a compliant option for customers. This is huge for both environmentalists and home buyers.

On the builder side, there are a few significant changes. First, insulation must be at least R-22 and duct leakage must be reduced to 5% or less. Also, all air-conditioners and heat pumps will need to be equipped with liquid line filter driers. The changes don’t stop there. All tanked water heaters no longer need to be wrapped externally. In addition, all lights within the home must be high efficiency.

With these and the other  changes in place, green building is not only needed, but is heavily desired by first time home buyers. For more
information on the new Title 24 regulations, please visit http://www.energy.ca.gov/.