What's New
Rep. Tom Golden (Lowell) has filed a bill to update the state’s building energy codes to comport with the most recent guidelines from the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). The bill will come up for a hearing sometime this spring.
Summary
Most people are familiar with fire and safety codes. But we also have energy codes – minimum standards for things like insulation and windows. Massachusetts has adopted building energy codes to ensure all buildings meet minimum energy performance standards – to make sure we’re not using outdated technology and wasting huge amounts of energy.
Unfortunately, energy codes in Massachusetts are very out of date. The most recent international energy code guidelines were published in 2006. Massachusetts residential codes date to 1995, and commercial codes to 2003. Updating our codes and creating enforcement mechanisms to ensure that new and refurbished buildings meet these codes will save huge amounts of energy, cutting back on pollution from old, dirty power plants.
We also need to provide incentives for building owners and developers to go beyond the energy codes, in order to drive innovation and investment in leading-edge clean energy technologies. Environment Massachusetts is working to create tax credits and other incentives to encourage property owners to build or upgrade buildings so that they are 30% more efficient than the most recent energy efficiency codes.