The Final Action Hearings for the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code took place in Charlotte, NC in early November. The vote from that hearing approved a series of new building energy codes that should help to improve energy efficiency in new buildings by 30%. The Code was based on proposals from the US Department of Energy, amended by the Energy Efficient Codes Coalition (EECC) and other stakeholder proposals. More than 60 governmental members of the International Code Council took part in the hearings in Charlotte, but to take effect the 2012 IECC must now be implemented by states and local governments.
EECC Executive Director William Fay said: “Reducing wasted energy from the nation’s largest single user – our homes and commercial buildings, which consume nearly half of our energy – was the byword of the nearly 500 state and local government representatives who spent five days of rigorous hearings to evaluate and pass judgment on hundreds of proposals to improve (or weaken) the IECC’s residential and commercial chapters. The 2012 IECC encourages a “whole building” approach to efficiency in the construction of new homes and commercial buildings. he code would ensure that new homes are better sealed to cut heating and cooling losses, boost the efficiency of windows and skylights, increase insulation in ceilings, walls and foundations, as well as in lighting systems. Wasted energy would also be minimized through well sealed heating and cooling ducts and in the design of hot water distribution systems. Designers of commercial buildings would have the choice of three further options to boost energy efficiency – generating renewable energy, using more efficient heating and ventilation equipment or more efficient lighting systems.
The Washington DC-based nonprofit Institute for Market Transformation (IMT), which has been working with the EECC to promote the adoption of the new code proposals, said the 2012 IECC would benefit American consumers by $10.2 billion each year in energy savings.