New Sustainable Homes Rating Program Unveiled

The Good Cents® energy-efficient homes program used by nearly 300 utilities nationwide has announced the availability of new environmental rating features. The Good Cents Sustainable Homes™ program expands on existing energy efficiency criteria to rate new homes on a sustainability scale.

Using software and rating methodology designed by EcoGroup, Inc. of Tempe, Arizona, house designs and construction methods are rated based on 270 choices in six categories: energy efficiency, building materials, construction practices, water efficiency, building design, and ecological planning. Both current practice and proposed versions of each house are rated to provide comparative figures, and the program estimates (roughly) the construction cost difference between the two versions.