A public review of the drafts of both the 2024 Commercial and Residential International Energy Conservation Conservation Code® (IECC) is well underway. Key updates from both processes include:
Commercial: The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) recently presented preliminary energy modeling results of Public Draft #1 of the 2024 IECC to the Consensus Committee. The draft code results in a 10.6% site energy savings without renewable energy and 16.4% site energy savings with renewable energy. The code is expected to be finalized by May 2023.
Several ASHRAE 189.1 Addenda are being developed. NBI is participating in the process. Key updates include:
Requirements for Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) disclosure for embodied carbon content in commercial building materials and products has completed the public review process. The working group is currently responding to comments.
Electric-ready provisions for commercial buildings have been approved by the full Committee for public review, which should be circulated soon.
Provisions to set limits on carbon content in commercial building materials have been approved by the full Committee to go out for public review, which should be circulated soon.
Federal and State Policy Updates
Yesterday, the White House announced the first-ever Federal Building Performance Standard (BPS), which will support the Federal Government’s goalof achieving net zero emissions in Federal buildings by 2045. In parallel to this announcement, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a proposed rule making to electrify new and renovated Federal buildings.The largest energy user and building manager will be leading by example with all-electric construction.
California also announced it joined the National BPS Coalition, joining more than 30 cities and states working toward enacting BPS by Earth Day 2024.
With California joining the Coalition and the Federal government’s building portfolio operating under a BPS, more than a quarter of all commercial, multifamily, and federal buildings in the U.S. are either operating under or actively pursuing BPS policies.
Federal Funding Opportunities for Codes
Several federal funding opportunities for code adoption and implementation stemming from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are on the horizon. The most immediate of these opportunities is the Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation (RECI) funding opportunity, which is expected to be released in the coming months. The funding was initiated under the IIJA, and is designed to support “sustained cost-effective implementation of updated building energy codes.”
If you are interested in partnering with Codes for Climate experts on a potential project, please let us know by sending an email to Erin Beddingfield.
