Update on End Use Codes & Standards: May 5, 2023 | American Society of Gas Engineers

Update on the International Code Councils (ICC) Development of the 2024 Edition of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) .

As previously reported, the ICC’s development of the 2024 Edition has been underway using a standards process (different then the code development process the ICC uses for all other I-Codes) since mid-2022. AGA has a representative on the Residential and Commercial Consensus Committees and a number of BECS Committee members have been participating in committee activities providing proposals and commenting on many proposals on both committee activities. This week, the ICC staff provided the following update on the committee’s activities:

“The IECC Consensus Committees have completed their review of public comments/proposed changes to the Public Comment Draft #1. The Committee Action Report for IECC Commercial public comments/changes to Public Comment Draft #1 is posted here. The Committee Action Report for IECC Residential public comments/changes to Public Comment Draft #1 is posted here. Should Consensus Committee balloting of the approved changes receive comments from committee members that require resolution a meeting of the consensus committees will be held. If necessary, the IECC-C would meet on Wednesday, June 21 (time tbd). IECC-R will be meeting on Thursday, June 29^th (time tbd).

The remaining steps in the 2024 IECC and IRC Chapter 11 were presented during the previous consensus meetings. You can view the presentation slides posted here (see slides 8-10). Public Comment Draft #2 for the IECC-C, IECC-R, and IRC Chapter 11 will be posted mid-May on energy.cdpaccess.com for public comment. Public comment/code changes can only be made on technical/substantive changes to Public Comment Draft #1 during this comment period. The public comment period will be open for 45 days (roughly the end of June). A monograph of public comments/code changes will be posted following the close of the comment period. The committees will then review and act on these comments in the weeks following. The result will be the draft of the 2024 IECC-C, IECC-R, and IRC Chapter 11. “

The process in developing the draft 2024 International Energy Conservation Code and Chapter 11 of the International Residential Code has been tedious and way behind the original schedule for development. More importantly, a number of provisions that would negatively impact the direct use of natural gas such as, electric ready , all electric provisions, etc., have received initial approval and in addition, some of the processing of the code proposals have not followed the development procedures provide by the ICC at the start of this standards development effort. At next weeks BECS Committee meeting, the committee will be discussing and documenting the proposed provisions for both the residential and commercial standards that are problematic for the direct use of natural gas and listing the specific proposals and reasons for concern. In addition, a list of concerns on the development process will also be identified. We will be providing a summary of the issues for use in responding during upcoming IECC public comment requests and for possible appeals that will be available following the consensus committee’s issuance of the draft 2024 International Energy Conservation Code and Chapter 11 of the International Residential Code.

May 2023 CEO Update.

Each month, AGA’s President & CEO Karen A Harbert provides a “CEO Update” to member company leadership that offers an overview of the variety of activities that AGA has been involved with during the month. For your information, attached is the May 2023 CEO Update. There are a number of activities provided in the update that the BECS Committee is addressing or involved with such as DOE appliance efficiency standards, gas cooking emissions studies, the California Restaurant Association v Berkeley U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit decision that EPCA preempts State and local regulations concerning natural gas appliances, etc. We will be adding the monthly CEO Updates to the BECS Committee weekly End Use Codes and Standards reports.

State Codes Activity Update.

Attached is a weekly feature of the “Friday Update” covering state code calendar activities as presented by the online utility “Fiscal Note,” which is sponsored by APGA and AGA Code and Standards. Please review the update and determine if there are state code activities that impact your service territory or organization.