Coming Changes To the Model Energy Codes

Massive changes are coming to an energy code near you. Under a Federal Law under consideration in the Congress (H.R. 6279). The law requires the model energy codes establish minimum targets of increases in energy efficiency as mandates of the Federal government on the order of :

30 percent in editions of each model code or standard released in or after 2010
50 percent in editions of each model code or standard released in or after 2020.

The law also mandates that if the body that governs the IECC model energy code that is the basis of almost all energy codes in the various states do not achieve these goals, the Secretary of Energy is commanded (within 12 months) to institute a Federal energy code that achieves the mandates.  The law will have the effect long term of mandating that all new buildings have solar panels, photovoltaics or wind turbines installed on all new construction.

The law will also mandate the enforcement of the new mandates on states could risk the loss of Federal funds. It also does not fully fund the regulations and structure to oversee all the enforcement that will occur under this law.

Funding shall be considered adequate, for purposes of this paragraph, when the Federal Government provides to the States at least $50,000,000 in a year in funding and support for development and implementation of State building energy codes, including for training and enforcement.

Of course, the problem with all this is that what is good for one area of the country is not good for another, but the imposition of Federal regulations on issues that are local in nature many times distorts the solutions and results and brings massive inefficiency to the markets. The other problem, it adds costs to the system that will in all probability far exceed the laudable goals.

There are provisions in the code that will make it necessary for all new "buildings" consume "zero net energy", by the year 2050. Well this will be enormously expensive to attain. If they include residences in this provision, imagine the cost of adding solar and wind systems and what that will do to the cost of building that home. It will exclude many first time home buyers from being able to purchase or build their own home and will drive rents up dramatically.

You should get educated about this bill. It will start to have an immediate impact in the next 2-4 years. It couls cost you personally and it is not necessarily the best method to move the country towards energy efficiency. In fact there is no technology that gets us to these goals without dramatically higher costs of energy. This bill is more about a stealth method of impsoing limits on green house gasses than it is about energy efficiency.

Solar, Photovoltaics, Wind and other methods of generation that are available to make a new building "zero net energy" have not reached the stage where they can fill this role in an economically efficient manner. The reason we do not have them in place in a massive way is that the market is waiting for the economics to change for that to take place. No amount of government intervention can force that to change. Only massive investment in the technologies and adoption that brings economies of scale that lowers the cost of these technologies can do this. Otherwise we could end up with massiv energy inflation along the lines like we have seen sscoiated with food and corn ethanol. This is the example we must all consider when moving down this road.

There are other methods of moving forward towards these goals. The better approach would be to embody incentives towards the investment in these technologies. Tax credits and other mechanisms, modulate investment into technology in a market efficient manner and avoid the kinds of distrotion you see with mechanisms like mandates and regulation.

Expanding the credit for Solar generating systems will do more towards these goals. Adding a credit for the installation of wind turbines and establishing a registry for manufacturers to concentrate information on available systems would increase the use of this technology. There is a serious shortfall on readily accessible information on wind generation systems and there is apparently a lack of independent independent research and ratings for systems that consumers like to see before committing to such a large investment. There will also have to be achange of heart in zoning commissions and HOA committes to allow expanded use of Solar Panels, Wind Turbines and Photovoltaic. This is one are that Federal Legislation could be of benefit in supporting and expanding investment in these technologies.

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