APGA Advocates for Fair Treatment of Natural Gas in Codes & Standards

By Stuart Saulters posted 01-12-2023 01:08 PM

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This past December, APGA engaged in several codes and standards development opportunities, asking the respective committees or agencies to not unduly burden the direct use of natural gas in homes across the country.

First, APGA submitted several comments in response to the International Code Council’s (ICC) first public draft of the residential International Energy Conservation Code (IECC-R). The comments ranged in content and included significant pushback to proposed “electric-ready” provisions in the base code as well as the “all electric” voluntary appendix that the consensus committee included in the first draft. APGA will be supporting its comments at IECC-R committee meetings in the beginning of this year and will continue to engage as the code cycle continues.

APGA also pushed back against an electric-ready provision proposed to be added to ASHRAE 189.1, which underlies the ICC’s Green Construction Code. While the committee has rejected this comment, APGA remains unresolved on the issue and successfully pushed back against the use of the term “fossil fuel” in the proposal.

Finally, APGA also submitted joint comments with other trade associations in response the Department of Energy’s (DOE) notice of data availability pertaining to miscellaneous gas products (MGP). Through the comments, APGA again raised concerns with how DOE plans to regulate these products, the lack of time provided to stakeholders to comment on the notice, and the need for a public meeting to further discuss these concerns. APGA and other stakeholders contend that energy efficiency standards for these products are not warranted under the governing statute.

A copy of the MGP comment letter is available here.

APGA engages in code development activities to ensure there is fair and balanced treatment of all fuels when determining building energy performance.

For questions on this article, please contact Stuart Saulters of APGA staff by phone at 202-802-0493 or by email at ssaulters@apga.org.

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