DOE stirs up climate fight over building codes

Published by E&E News: Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm warned the creators of the nation’s most widely used model for building energy codes yesterday that their work could be sliding toward “irrelevance” in addressing climate change, signaling that a once-obscure policy area is becoming a flashpoint for debates about cutting emissions.

Kim Cheslak, Director of Codes at New Buildings Institute, said her group would be proposing an all-electric mandate for new homes — meaning that if a state or city chose to adopt the model codes in full, it would effectively be choosing a ban on natural gas, with exceptions for certain uses. “The world is literally on fire — again. We need to advance the book as fast as we can,” she said, in reference to the model codes.

Read More