Energy-efficiency has broiled to the forefront of the Senate as energy and fuel costs rise across the nation.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is currently hearing testimony on a suite of energy efficiency bills. The National Association of Home Builders is urging the Senate to consider the disparities in new and old housing when creating policies.

Tony Crasi, a custom home builder from Akron, Ohio, told members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, "With substantial amounts of energy lost in the nearly 130 million existing homes in the current stock, it is extremely important to develop an effective national energy policy that is not punitive to consumers who benefit from the most efficient new homes. Rather, the policy must promote an effective retrofit plan for older, less-efficient housing that allows builders and remodelers to create the benefits of energy efficiency for all housing."

The NAHB is backing efforts aimed at making the oldest, least-efficient homes more efficient, and "believes a national energy policy priority must include provisions that seek to save the energy lost in older homes and buildings."

New construction faces challenges pertaining to the recent recession, as reduced access to credit has left many builders less focused on energy efficiency and more concerned with being able to build at all.

Builder confidence remains tepid. According to the NAHB, it held at "a low but steady level for the past six months." Despite this trend, builder confidence declined three points in June, the same rating as in September 2010.

"Builders are being squeezed by the continuing weakness in existing-home prices – against which they must compete -- as well as rising material costs," said NAHB Chairman Bob Nielsen, a home builder from Reno, Nev. "In addition to the ongoing impacts of distressed property sales on home prices, appraisal values and consumer confidence, rising costs for materials such as roofing, copper, wallboard, vinyl siding and other components have made it extremely difficult to construct a new home and sell it at a price that covers the costs."

The Northeast was the only region posting a June gain. The lowest rating was seen in the Midwest at an 11 on the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index scale.

"Builder confidence has waned even further as economic growth has stalled, foreclosures have continued to hit the market and the cost of building a home has risen," noted NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. "Meanwhile, potential new-home buyers are being constrained by difficulty selling their existing homes, stringent lending requirements, and general uncertainty about the economy. Economic growth must pick up in order for housing to gain the momentum it needs to get back on track."

The economy is experiencing uncertainty at this time. Retail sales experienced their first decline in 11 months, according to the Commerce Department, dropping 0.2 percent in May.

In an interview with NBC's Today show, President Obama said "we could actually have a reprise of a financial crisis, if we play this too close to the line [of not raising the debt ceiling]. So we're going be working hard over the next month." Current budget negotiations must take into consideration the still ailing jobs market as well as the need for new tax cuts. And to top it all off, Congress must find a way to save trillions in the budget in order to cover this rise in the debt ceiling.

Published: June 20, 2011

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Carla Hill, M.A., works on the Realty Times staff as Managing Editor for our online publication. She also is Producer for the real estate news channel, seen daily on RealtyTimes.com and on video newsletters nationwide.