Should There Be a Mandatory National Home Energy-Efficiency Label?

An op-ed column in the Boston Globe argues for a mandatory, nationwide labeling system for home energy efficiency. Written by the director of the MIT Center for Real Estate, the piece argues that existing labels such as Energy Star and LEED are not used widely.

“The value of the investment by the current homeowner is not readily available to homebuyers, and therefore the premium that could be added to the sale price is not fully realized,” the column says. “In a fully labeled market, a prospective home buyer could see more clearly how green a particular home is, and therefore how much money the seller has invested in the property to make it more efficient. That will factor into the sale price that is negotiated between the two parties.”

A mandatory label would tend to encourage more homeowners to make upgrades to improve sustainability, it says.

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