Earth Advantage Institute

Earth Advantage Institute is a non-profit offering sustainable building and climate solutions. They got their start as part of Portland General Electric as an energy conservation program. When they broke from Portland General they broadened their focus to sustainability in general. They offer a wide range of educational programs and development standards as their main goal is to reduce carbon in the built environment, commercial and residential. They have their own residential certification program based on Energy Star guidelines for energy efficiency as well as being a LEED for Homes provider (surprisingly, she mentioned the largest number of LEED for Homes certifications is in Texas). They have also developed standards for developers interested in developing whole communities (Earth Advantage Community Standards). Earth Advantage Zero is a program they will begin later this year that will allow builders to become certified as net-zero home builders. Additionally, they hope to release an existing building/remodeling certification program in the next 12 months. They also provide education to architects, brokers, appraisers, and others involved in the real estate industry to ensure buildings meeting certain standards are marketed properly to recognize their advantages over other buildings in the same market. The Energy Performance Score is their proprietary "mpg for homes" that measures the energy efficiency of buildings and is a valuable tool for building owners to see the difference in energy consumption, carbon emissions, and utility costs when energy efficiency measures are put in place, recommending upgrades. The tool also allows them to compare their own consumption with energy use on a regional and national scale. EAS also staffs passive consultants who offer consulting to homeowners, builders, and architects to get homes certified as passive houses. They have also become a licensed training provider for passive house consulting.

Interesting that brokers aren't pushing to market this

During the discussion I was surprised to hear that brokers are not buying into many of the projects and standards proposed by EAS, such as a home rating system to report on real estate listings, because they do not see that green homes are specifically in demand any more than other homes, so they don't want to put any more effort into recognizing homes that don't sell any more frequently than others, though surveys suggest that homeowners are demanding energy efficiency in growing numbers.