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On June 30, APGA submitted comments and suggested changes in response to the most recent public comment drafts of both the Residential International Energy Conservation Code (IECC-R) and the Commercial IECC (IECC-C).

Through its comments, APGA urged the consensus committees that are responsible for developing the codes to take a balanced approach in their treatment of all energy sources, including fuels such as natural gas, when determining building energy performance.  APGA also pushed back on proposals that did not guarantee energy savings or negatively impacted the direct use of natural gas.  Of interest to many APGA members is a requirement in the IECC-C that would require advanced metering of natural gas usage; APGA also opposed this addition to the code.

The IECC-R is the most adopted residential building code throughout the country and IECC-C is also widely utilized.  The development of the 2024 version of both is still underway.  APGA has participated in committee meetings and previously submitted comments in response to potential changes to the code.  An APGA member, Cliff Swoape of Middle Tennessee, has also been a member of an IECC-R subcommittee.

The next opportunity to engage is through oral or written testimony before the subcommittees that are tasked with reviewing all of the public comments.  APGA will continue to engage throughout the rest of the process, which is anticipated to wrap up later this year, and we encourage members to also engage as able.  Please reach out to APGA staff for more information on how best to engage in the remaining steps of the process.

The IECC-R and IECC-C are codes whose development is managed by the International Code Council (ICC).  ICC manages the development of several building codes referred to as the I-Codes such as the International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC) and International Plumbing Code (IPC).  Unlike other I-Codes, the IECC-R, starting this code cycle, is being developed in a standards development format, meaning that a 2/3 vote of a pre-selected consensus committee is the determining factor for new code provisions.  The other I-Codes are all updated with an online vote of ICC governmental members, which include several APGA members.

APGA also hosted a webinar on June 26 to educate members on the public draft that was recently out for comment. The webinar was co-hosted with the American Gas Association (AGA).  

A copy of the submitted comments and slides from the webinar are available here.

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.