May and June brought several important national building energy code actions of interest to the State and Territory Energy Offices. First, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued its preliminary determinations of energy savings for the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and the 2019 edition of the ASHRAE 90.1 Standard. Once the final determination is published in the Federal Register, it will trigger a two-year window for states to review the 2021 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1-2019 Standard. See below for further information, including a link to the statutory language.
On May 12, 2021, the U.S. DOE Building Energy Codes Program announced a preliminary determination of savings for the 2021 IECC. U.S. DOE estimates national savings from the 2021 IECC of DOE of approximately:
• 9.38 percent site energy savings
• 8.79 percent source energy savings
• 8.66 percent energy cost savings
• 8.66 percent carbon emissions.
U.S. DOE also published a preliminary determination of savings for ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2019 on April 19, 2021. U.S. DOE estimates national savings from the updated standard to be approximately:
• 4.7 percent site energy savings
• 4.3 percent source energy savings
• 4.3 percent energy cost savings
• 4.2 percent carbon emissions.
Upon publication of the final, affirmative determination by DOE, “states are required to certify that they have reviewed the provisions of their residential building code regarding energy efficiency, and made a determination as to whether it is appropriate for them to revise their code to meet or exceed the updated edit.” This certification must be made within two years of the date of the publication of the final determination in the Federal Register.
The U.S. DOE Building Energy Code Program provides the following information:
Residential Buildings
(5)(A) Whenever the CABO Model Energy Code*, 1992, (or any successor of such code) is revised, the [DOE] Secretary shall, not later than 12 months after such revision, determine whether such revision would improve energy efficiency in residential buildings. The [DOE] Secretary shall publish notice of such determination in the Federal Register.
(B) If the [DOE] Secretary makes an affirmative determination under subparagraph (A), each State shall, not later than 2 years after the date of the publication of such determination, certify that it has reviewed the provisions of its residential building code regarding energy efficiency and made a determination as to whether it is appropriate for such State to revise such residential building code provisions to meet or exceed the revised code for which the [DOE] Secretary made such determination.
*As a predecessor to the ICC, the Council of American Building Officials (CABO) was responsible for development of the Model Energy Code (MEC). Contemporary energy codes are referred to and published as the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC)®.
The relevant statute is 42 U.S.C. 6833. To briefly summarize the statute, each state shall certify to the U.S. Secretary of Energy “that it has reviewed the provisions of its residential building code regarding energy efficiency and made a determination as to whether it is appropriate for such State to revise such residential building code provisions to meet or exceed (the model energy code).” The determination shall be made in writing. Each State may make revisions to the provisions of its residential building code or may decline to make such revisions, consistent with otherwise applicable State law. “If a State makes a determination under paragraph (1) that it is not appropriate for such State to revise its residential building code, such State shall submit to the Secretary (of Energy), in writing, the reasons for such determination and such statement shall be made available to the public.”
If you have questions about what this may mean for your state, please contact Ed Carley (ecarley@naseo.org) with questions.