[Originally appeared in the El Paso Times, November 14, 2015]
Making sure our homes and buildings meet more efficient lighting, insulation, windows, and appliance standards is a sure-fire way to lower bills, reduce pollution from power plants, conserve water, and create jobs.
Thankfully, the Texas Legislature and comptroller of public accounts seem to be moving in right direction.
Five years ago, Texas did the right thing and updated the minimum energy standards for new construction.
Through the State Energy Conservation Organization, an arm of the comptroller, Texas adopted two new codes – one for residential construction and one for commercial and industrial construction – that brought Texas up to 2009 standards for energy efficiency.
Most cities adopted these codes, leading to more energy efficiency in homes and businesses.
SECO and the Legislature appear to be doing the right thing by updating our codes again.
Last legislative session, state Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, and state Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, introduced legislation with support from the Texas Association of Builders that was originally opposed by many parties, including architects, environmental organizations, major chemical manufacturers and others.
The original bill would have delayed implementation of new energy codes and created a separate advisory group process before any new codes could be implemented.
In a spirit of dialogue and compromise, the TAB, Sierra Club, Texas Chemical Council, U.S. Greenbuilding Council and many others reached a deal to adopt the energy provisions of the 2015 International Residential Code effective September 2016, but delay future updates until 2021, and also give some flexibility to homebuilders on how they meet the codes.
HB 1736, signed by the governor, received both Republican and Democratic support.
When put into effect, it will create uniform regulations for all of our major cities in Texas. It will also benefit many of Texas’ chemical and manufacturing plants that make the windows, insulation, and appliances that go into these new buildings.
Now there’s more potential good news.
While HB 1736 created a statutory requirement to update codes for new homes, it did not mention other buildings.
However, through a non-legislative process, SECO received a recommendation from the Energy Systems Laboratory to update the energy codes for other buildings, and on Oct. 2, SECO published a proposal in the Texas Register to do just that.
Under the proposed rules, the minimum energy code for any other type of building would be the 2015 the International Energy Conservation Code even though the minimum standards for new homes would be the energy chapter of the IRC, as required in HB 1736.
According to analysis conducted by ESL and the Department of Energy, moving from the 2009 to the 2015 codes will save 10 to 23 percent energy on average for homes or commercial buildings.
In addition, these same codes, effective September 2016, also help save water and natural gas.
This is good news for Texas.
With the state facing energy shortfalls at peak energy use, a rapidly growing population, challenges in meeting air quality standards and water shortages, making sure our buildings are as energy efficient as possible is a no-brainer.
The Legislature and Comptroller Glenn Hegar should be commended for moving forward, and hopefully these rules become final next month.
While various studies show construction costs will go up slightly because of these new codes – somewhere around 2 percent – the 10-23 percent savings on monthly utility bills more than make up for the increased construction costs.
Cities will have to go through the code update process, but it is the right thing to do for homeowners and businesses.
Builders, inspectors, and architects should be trained and compliance efforts should be improved (hopefully SECO and other organizations will help support this training), but Texas will ultimately be a better, cleaner, and more economically vibrant state because of it.
Sometimes there can be a conflict between the environment and the economy, but in this case, updating energy codes should improve both.
Cyrus Reed is conservation director for the Sierra Club in Texas.