ENERGY STAR Homes See Record Growth in 2024 Under Federal Tax Credit
United States residents buy an average of 800,000 ENERGY STAR products each day—everything from water heaters to televisions. The energy cost savings from those purchases add up to $42 billion annually.
Less known however, is that the program also certifies high-performing new houses, giving homebuyers the same confidence that, among other benefits, buying an ENERGY STAR home will deliver a lifetime of energy savings.
According to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Until recently, the ENERGY STAR homes program has been relatively flat in terms of numbers, hovering in the range of 100,000 certifications per year for more than a decade. But that is changing quickly, thanks to an updated tax credit for homebuilders that was included in the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022.
The incentive, which is now at risk of being repealed by Congress, offers homebuilders a $2,500 federal tax credit per home for building to the ENERGY STAR standard (or a $5,000 credit for building to an even higher bar—the Department of Energy’s Zero Energy Ready Homes (ZERH) standard.
It’s working. In 2022, homebuilders built fewer than 142,000 ENERGY STAR houses in the U.S., including single family, multifamily and manufactured housing, according to EPA data. Just two years later, with the updated tax credit catching on, that total jumped to nearly 350,000 certifications in 2024.
