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Mize: Oklahoma home builders say now isn’t the time for costly energy code changes – Oklahoman.com

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Mize: Oklahoma home builders say now isn’t the time for costly energy code changes – Oklahoman.com


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Andrea Kramar, USA TODAY

If you thought it was odd that Todd Booze, of all people, seemed to oppose energy conservation recently before the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission, you weren’t alone. 

After all, “Green” — as in environmentally friendly — could be his middle name. He is a former president of the Oklahoma Home Builders Association, which also appeared to oppose green building. 

No, they opposed a report from the commission’s Energy Conservation Technical Committee, and certain detailed specifications that some members of the committee, and others, wanted to see written into code. 

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Ideal Homes & Neighborhoods, which Booze co-founded, and where he worked for years as president of construction, helped bring green construction to Oklahoma. 

Among many other things, Ideal: 

• Built the first “zero-energy home” — meaning it generates more energy than it consumes — in the United States for under $200,000, in 2005. 

• Built the first home certified in Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) in the United States, in 2005. 

• Built the first home certified “green” in the National Association of Home Builder’s National Green Building Program, in 2008. 

So what gives? 

Real estate: Oklahoma building commission pulls plug on proposed energy conservation code

Booze said some of the proposals would further add to the rising cost of home construction — for minimal energy savings, around $11 per year. One proposal, he said, would have put two window companies in town out of business.

It’s not a good time to add to construction costs.

“We don’t want anybody to think that builders are against energy-efficient houses. It’s been my whole career,” he said this week. “But right now, one of the biggest concerns is affordability. It’s a crisis in the country.” 

It’s keeping people renting rather than buying, he said. </…….

Source: https://www.oklahoman.com/story/business/2021/11/27/real-estate-rent-own-homes-okc-oklahoma-uniform-building-code-commission/8768863002/