HOW ABOUT having to have a license for your house?

Just like having to have a license plate on your car, the proposed Cap & Tax Bill working its way through Congress is proposing that everyone must get a license for their house to prove that it is energy and water efficient.

The government calls it a “label” but regardless of what you call it, it will have to be prominently displayed on your house just as the license plate is displayed on your car.

As the bill is presently drawn, one year after enactment, you won’t be able to sell your house unless you retrofit it to comply with energy and water efficiency standards set by the federal government.

To get this permission, you will have to have the energy efficiency of your home measured.

Then the government will tell you what your new energy efficiency requirement is and you will be forced to make modifications to your home under the retrofit provisions of this Act to comply with the new energy and water efficiency requirements.

Then you will have to get your home measured again and get a label that must be posted on your property to show what your efficiency rating is.

If you don't get a high enough rating, you can't sell.

All of this assumes, of course, that you have enough money before you sell your house to do the mandated repairs to bring it up to a standard where the feds will sign off.

The label that needs to be posted on your property will show what your efficiency rating is, sort of like the Energy Star efficiency rating label on your refrigerator or air conditioner.

If you don't get a high enough rating, you won’t be able to sell your house until repairs are made which will allow you to qualify and get the correct rating.

The EPA Administrator, appointed by the President, will run the Cap & Trade program, officially known as the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009.”

The Administrator is authorized to make any future changes to the regulations and standards he determines to be in the government's best interest.

The Act itself contains annual required increases in energy efficiency for private and commercial residences and buildings.

However, the EPA administrator can set higher standards at any time.

Sect. 202, the Building Retrofit Program mandates a national retrofit program to increase the energy efficiency of all existing homes across America.

The Act allows the government to give poorer people a grant to comply with the retrofit program requirements so they will be able to meet certain energy efficiency levels if you are in the lower income group.

For example, those making less than $50,000 per year and/or have a house value of less than $125,000 would qualify for these grants. Anyone above these levels would have to fend for themselves.

Under the current legislation, most of us won't get any help regardless of the government mandates and will have to pay the entire cost of the retrofit out of our own pockets unless state legislatures decide to help with grants or loans.

Sect. 204, the Building Energy Performance Labeling Program establishes a labeling program whereby each individual residence will identify the achieved energy efficiency performance for "at least 90 percent of the residential market within 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act."

This means that within 5 years 90 per cent of all residential homes in the U.S. must be measured and labeled.

The label will be like a license for your car. You will be required to post the label in a conspicuous location in your home and will not be allowed to sell your home without having this label.

The next question becomes, how long will the label be good for? Like your car license, will you have to renew it every year?

The government currently estimates that the cost of measuring the energy efficiency of your home should cost about $200 each time it has to be done. Does that mean that in order to get the label, you’ll have to pay a fee to the government of $200?

Who does the inspections? Will the government hire tens of thousands of people to go out and make these inspections or will the inspections be done by private contractors who are licensed to perform this service?

Just as service stations are licensed to perform vehicle inspections here in Vermont, I would expect that certain contractors will become licensed to perform these services.

This program, known as the “Retrofit for Energy and Environmental Performance” (REEP) would be to “facilitate” the retrofitting of existing buildings nationwide.

The bill says that “the Administrator shall develop and implement, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, standards for a national energy and environmental building retrofit policy for single-family and multifamily residences.”

The bill continues: “The purpose of the REEP program is to facilitate the retrofitting of existing buildings across the United States.”

The bill leaves the definition of a retrofit and the details of the REEP program up to the EPA.

However, states are responsible for ensuring that the government’s plans are carried out, whatever the final details may entail.

“States shall maintain responsibility for meeting the standards and requirements of the REEP program,” the bill says. States may contract with private agencies to oversee the retrofitting and measuring of improved efficiency and environmental friendliness of houses and other buildings, making sure that private citizens have a variety of choices for retrofitting their homes.

“States and local government entities may administer a REEP program in a manner that authorizes public or regulated investor-owned utilities, building auditors and inspectors, contractors, nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies, and other entities to perform audits and retrofit services,” reads the bill.

It further says, “a State or local administrator of a REEP program shall seek to ensure that sufficient qualified entities are available to support retrofit activities so that building owners have a competitive choice among qualified auditors, raters, contractors, and providers of services related to retrofits.”

Individual homeowners will be allowed to retrofit buildings themselves. The bill gives specific protection to individual owners’ rights to choose who inspects and retrofits their property.

“Nothing in this section is intended to deny the right of a building owner to choose the specific providers of retrofit services to engage for a retrofit project in that owner’s building.” Even though Congress says the states are responsible for carrying out the retrofits, the EPA and the Department of Energy will establish the guidelines and rules for doing so.

“The Administrator, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, shall establish goals, guidelines, practices, and standards for accomplishing the purpose stated in subsection (c) [the retrofits],” the bill says. The program would involve a system of certified auditors, inspectors, and raters who inspect homes and businesses using devices such as infrared cameras (which measure how much heat a building is giving off) to measure their energy efficiency.

The results of these energy audits would then be used to determine what retrofits need to be performed. The audits would examine things like water usage, infrared photography, and pressurized testing to determine the efficiency of door and window seals, and indoor air quality.

Those retrofits would be performed by licensed retrofit contractors using governmentapproved methods and resources including roofing materials that reflect solar energy.

“Building retrofits conducted pursuant to a REEP program utilize, especially in all air-conditioned buildings, roofing materials with high solar energy reflectance,” the legislation states.

After the retrofitting is complete, the government – state, local, or federal – will come back and re-inspect the house to determine how much energy has been saved and whether the retrofit is up to federal government standards.

Only then, will you be able to sell your house.

Most of us want to make our homes insulated just to keep down the cost of heating each winter. The question in my mind is, should the government force us to meet some mandated standard that may be beyond what we can afford or should we use our own common sense to decide that it is in our own best interest to make the investment to make our home as efficient as possible?

Lately, it seems to me that Congress has been continually telling us that they know better how to handle our affairs then we do because we are too stupid to do it on our own.

I just know that it’s going to cost more once there is a government mandate than it would have cost if we just made our houses more efficient because it is the smart thing to do.