ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – In September 2024, a new ordinance went into effect where every home listed for public sale in Ann Arbor has to undergo an evaluation to determine its “Home Energy Score.”

That’s a rating that determines how much energy the home truly uses in an effort to reduce carbon emissions within the city.

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For now, the city provides the evaluations to the homeowners at no cost. This week, the city released its first data on the energy program and found that 16% of the homes listed were not “fully compliant” with the ordinance, which means the homes listed for sale did not have an Home Energy Score evaluation conducted and also have not listed it publicly.

A violation of the ordinance is a $500 fine for the first offense.

The city also found that on a scale from 1 (bad) to 10 (good), the median Home Energy Score was just a 4. That means one of the city’s biggest carbon-emission culprits are the very homes residents are living in, something the city has been pitching to improve the environment.

The city released a 2020 report that calculated carbon emissions. Institutional buildings were the leading source followed by residential buildings as the second highest source. Commercial buildings were third and local transportation was fourth.

The city said it was relieved to find that the homes in what it called “energy justice” communities (households in lower-income neighborhoods), did not have homes with lower Home Energy Scores. The city stated that bigger homes are more problematic when it comes to carbon emissions.

The next step is for the city to promote ways to reduce carbon emissions in real estate with homeowners and Realtors.