Federal Preemption as a Barrier to Cost Savings and High Performance Buildings in Local Energy Codes
Paper / June 22, 2017 / Codes And Policy
This white paper from New Buildings Institute (NBI) looks at the impacts of federal rules on efficiency standards for appliances, water heating and HVAC equipment and lays out possible solutions from an examination of policies from around the world. Decades-old federal laws that set national efficiency standards for various equipment also preempt states and cities from setting their own more stringent standards. Today however, federal preemption is a major barrier for cities and states to set efficiency stringency through local energy codes and is even driving up the incremental cost of efficiency.
