The concept of residential home energy efficiency is good idea, but requiring an energy audit at the time of sale does little to ensure efficiency improvements.  Rather the direct impact would be a boon for energy auditors and additional leverage for home buyers to drive down the seller’s asking price.  Chicago’s housing stock is primarily made up of older homes and would require a significant investment on the part of homeowners to meet recent energy efficiency code.

A possible solution is to finance home energy efficiency improvements on property tax bills.  This loan would be transfer to the new property owner at the time of sale.  Since the loan transfers with the property it could be repaid over a longer period of time keeping the loan repayment amounts to a minimum.  The energy audit would be rolled into the loan. Several other municipalities have used this financing approach for residential solar energy.