State Building Energy Codes Adoption and Updates Dub Taylor State Energy Conservation Office August

1
State Building Energy CodesAdoption and
UpdatesDub TaylorState Energy Conservation
OfficeAugust 2009

2
State Building Energy Code Adoption

• 2001 - Texas Legislature enacted new Texas Health
  and Safety Code 388.003
• International Residential Code (IRC) 2001 edition
  Chapter 11-Energy Efficiency was adopted as the
  energy code for single-family residential
  construction
• International Energy Conservation Code (IECC)
  2001 edition was adopted as the energy code for
  all other residential, commercial, and industrial
  construction.
• 2007 - Texas Legislature enacted amendments to
  Texas Health and Safety Code 388.003 requiring
  SECO to update the state building energy codes to
  reflect changes in the latest published editions
  of the IRC and IECC that meet or exceed the 2001
  IRC and 2001 IECC
• IRC and IECC are updated every three years
• 2009 is an update year

3
State Building Energy Code Update Process

• April 2009 - SECO published a notice for public
  comment on its intent to adopt changes to the
  state energy code based on the 2009 IECC
• After receiving all comments and technical
  recommendations from the Texas AM Energy Systems
  Laboratory, SECO is authorized to adopt of these
  standards to the extent that they meet or exceed
  the 2001 IECC
• June 2009 - SECO published a notice for public
  comment on its intent to adopt changes to the
  state energy code based on the 2009 IRC
• After receiving all comments and technical
  recommendations from the Texas AM Energy Systems
  Laboratory, SECO is authorized to adopt of these
  standards to the extent that they meet or exceed
  the 2001 IRC
• Updates to the IECC and IRC would be effective no
  earlier than May 2010

4
State Building Energy Code Enforcement

• Pursuant to Texas Health and Safety Code
  388.003, municipalities of the state are
  required to adopt and enforce the IRC and IECC as
  they are updated by SECO
• Local amendments may not result in less stringent
  local energy codes for air quality ozone
  non-attainment areas and in affected counties
• Enforcement for construction outside of the local
  jurisdiction of a municipality
• A building certified by an accredited energy
  efficiency program (e.g., EPA Energy Star New
  Homes) is considered to be in compliance
• A building with inspections from private
  ICC-certified inspectors using the energy
  efficiency chapter of the IRC or IECC is
  considered to be in compliance
• A builder who does not have access to either of
  the above methods must self-certify compliance
  using a standard form provides by Texas AM,
  Energy Systems Laboratory

5
ARRA Energy Code ProvisionsCompliance
Implementation

• SECO has developed and is implementing a plan to
  achieve 90 percent compliance with the new energy
  codes within eight years.
• Education SECO will actively educate
  municipalities about the changes to the energy
  codes and the applicable state laws surrounding
  compliance. Additionally, SECO will inform
  municipalities of the training opportunities for
  their inspectors to become code certified.
• Training Health Safety Code 388.011 requires
  Energy Systems Laboratory at Texas AM University
  to develop and administer statewide a training
  program for energy code inspectors.
• Enforcement SECO will commission a code
  implementation benchmarking study a monitoring
  and statistical sampling strategy and a
  compliance assessment after the codes have been
  implemented.

6
Resources

• SECO Building Codes and Standards Webpage
• http//www.seco.cpa.state.tx.us/sa_codes.html
• Texas AM, Energy Systems Laboratory
• http//esl.eslwin.tamu.edu/senate-bill-5.html
• International Codes Council (IRC and IECC)
• http//www.iccsafe.org/
• U.S. Department of Energy - Building Energy Codes
• http//www.energycodes.gov/
• U.S. EPA - Energy Star New Homes
• http//www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?cnew_homes.hm
  _index

6