An ENERGY STAR® Qualified Home…Now, THIS is a Dream House.

It's beautiful. It's comfortable, and it helps pay its own mortgage. It's an ENERGY STAR Qualified home. And if you're building or buying a new home, it's a dream come true.

An ENERGY STAR Qualified home can be a single-family or multi-family residential home. It achieves the greatest level of energy-efficiency through the use of reliable, advanced building techniques and high-quality materials. These include high performance windows, better insulation, energy-efficient appliances, lights or Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning systems, and tighter overall sealing and weatherproofing.

Why is it better?

An ENERGY STAR Qualified home is more comfortable to live in, and to live with.

• Lower Cost: ENERGY STAR Homes make it possible for owners to save money each month because on utility bills and maintenance costs. As an ENERGY STAR Home owner, your utility bills may be reduced by as much as $35 per month - significant savings when you consider the true cost of a house is not its "sticker" price, but what it costs you to own and operate every month.
• Higher Resale Values: Energy Star homes, on average, have higher resale values. For every $1 invested in energy efficiency upgrades, Energy Star homeowners can expect to receive $20 in return upon resale. In 1999, the EPA found that the average resale price of an Energy Star Home was $8600 more than its non-Energy Star equivalent.
• Quality Construction: ENERGY STAR Homes are more tightly constructed and often contain high-efficiency equipment, such as ENERGY STAR air conditioners, heat pumps, furnaces and higher-grade heat exchangers.
• Improved Comfort: ENERGY STAR Homes' features, such as improved insulation, advanced windows, and high efficiency heating and cooling equipment, improve comfort by eliminating annoying drafts, airborne dust, and reducing outside noise.

• Saving the Earth: Buying an ENERGY STAR Home means you'll be helping to save our planet. How? Did you know that the average home pollutes more than the average car? Homes contribute 20 percent of all U.S. carbon dioxide emissions. By building and buying more energy-efficient homes, we can help reduce air pollution.

How does the program work?

Building an ENERGY STAR Qualified home is really simple. UI will walk you and your builder through the whole process, step by step. We'll provide design and technical assistance, and cash incentives so you don't spend any more money or effort in the process.

Click Here for the 2008 Residential New Construction Project Agreement.