You may or may not be aware that Louisiana Act 504 took effect last year, marking a momentous occasion for advocates of energy efficiency. The legislation requires property appraisers to incorporate energy efficiency measures into the assessment of a property’s value. In other words,not only do you save money by making energy efficient changes to your property, now those same changes can increase your property’s overall value. It’s a win-win situation.
Of course, like any legislation, the 504 act isn’t entirely flawless. It doesn’t provide guidelines or direction for implementation. This leaves appraisers without any clear cut method for assessing how much value different energy efficiency measures should add to a property. Luckily, there is already a system in place for comparing houses to each other based on their energy use. The Home Energy Rating System (HERS) can serve as a bench mark for appraisers to assess and justify added property value based on energy efficiency.
The Alliance will be working with appraisers and real estate agents as they move towards full compliance with the new law. For more information about HERS click here and to read through the act click here. If you have any other questions, feel free to give us a call or visit our website at http://www.all4energy.org
