After over a decade of relatively stagnant U.S. model energy codes, energy efficiency advocates scored a decisive victory the week of February 18th when the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) Development Committee voted to recommend changes to the code that will boost new home energy efficiency by more than 20% over the current code! The battle is not over, however, as the recommendations of the Development Committee must be approved at the September, 2008 Annual Meeting of the International Codes Committee (ICC). If the recommendations are upheld, the actions will result in greater energy savings in new homes than the previous ten years of code changes combined!
This landmark victory was the result of much hard and creative work by many. The Alliance to Save energy and other groups formed the Energy Efficient Codes Coalition (EECC) earlier this year and launched a "30% Solution" campaign to secure a 30% improvement in model energy codes in the current code cycle. The efforts of the Coalition build on the work underway by the Alliance and a host of others to secure federal legislation that will trigger a process to insure that home and commercial building codes are improved by 30% starting in 2010 and 50% starting in 2020, and the important groundwork that has been laid by the U.S. Department of Energy which is now supporting a 30% improvement in residential codes and also is supporting the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) in meeting its goal of a 30% improvement in the energy efficiency of commercial buildings.