After being pressured to scale back efficiency provisions in the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), code officials largely held the line on efficiency gains made in recent versions, according to Lauren Urbanek, Senior Energy Policy Advocate, Energy & Transportation program with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
“The building code was under attack at every step of this year-long process,” Urbanek writes. “There were many proposals that would have significantly weakened the code and allowed more opportunities for energy waste, but nearly all were defeated.”
Urbanek noted just one efficiency gain in the new commercial code—one that pertains to water flow in showers. It sets the maximum flow rate of showerheads in commercial buildings at 2.0 gallons per minute, the level that has been specified by the EPA Water Sense program since 2010.
The IECC is used as a model code by more than 40 states. It is updated every three years.
A home built to the 2012 code uses about half of the energy as a standard home constructed in 1975, according to Urbanek.
Related Stories
| Sep 18, 2014
Master Painter Institute approves 55 new paint products
The Master Painter Institute has issued approvals for 55 new paint products.
| Sep 18, 2014
OSHA announces new requirements for reporting deaths and severe injuries
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced a final rule requiring employers to notify OSHA when an employee is killed on the job or suffers a work-related hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye.
| Sep 18, 2014
Eugene, Ore., passes ordinance to achieve steep energy consumption reductions
The Eugene, Ore., City Council recently passed an ordinance aimed at steeply reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
| Sep 10, 2014
Nine out of 10 New York City building plans fail energy code test
Earlier this year, New York City's Department of Buildings began auditing thousands of architectural plans for new and renovated office and residential buildings.
| Sep 10, 2014
AIA, CSI, and NIBS publish updated national CAD standard, includes new BIM module
The NCS helps architects, constructors and operators coordinate efforts by classifying electronic design data consistently and making information retrieval easier, the industry groups say.
| Sep 10, 2014
Perry named new director of OSHA’s Standards and Guidance Directorate
Bill Perry has been named new director of the OSHA’s Directorate of Standards and Guidance, effective Aug. 24, 2014.
| Sep 10, 2014
ASHRAE proposes verification for energy standard
The ASHRAE/IES energy standard would have multiple compliance options to ensure verification of delivered building envelope performance under a new proposal.
| Sep 2, 2014
Micro-apartment concept can’t get traction in Boston suburb
Micro-apartments are gaining acceptance in nearby Boston and in places such as San Francisco and New York, but Weymouth, Mass., officials and neighbors were not receptive to a proposal for tiny dwellings this summer.
| Sep 2, 2014
Montreal borough leader urges city to issue green roof guidelines
The mayor of Montreal's Saint-Laurent borough wants Quebec's housing authority to speed up its plan to publish construction guidelines for green roofs.
| Sep 2, 2014
Proposed federal rules would create more stringent healthcare facility safety rules
A key change is a requirement that buildings over 75 feet tall have sprinkler systems throughout the structure. Existing buildings would have 12 years to install them.