Show Your Support for Stronger Energy Building Code

The NC Building Code Council is expected to hold its final vote on the proposed energy conservation code on Tuesday, December 14th - and NCSEA needs supporters to attend and show your support! (The Council will also hold a work session and public hearing on December 13, which we also need people to attend - click here or see below for more info and directions.) This vote is one of the most important regulatory issues that our state will face in the next 5+ years and we need to make sure that we get the strongest, most energy efficient building code standards for our homes and businesses.

The Tuesday, December 14th meeting of the Building Code Council will be held at the Wake County Commons Building at 4011 Carya Drive in Raleigh beginning at 9 am. Click here for directions.

NCSEA and many of our members, supporters and partners have been working tirelessly on the energy conservation building code for many months and we're continuing our efforts to reach an agreement on this important issue with our state's home builders ("green" and "traditional"), the Building Code Council, elected officials and other interested groups.

During the last meeting of the Building Code Council's ad hoc and standing committees, members approved a compromise package that would result in an approximate 15% energy efficiency improvement over NC's current building code for homes beginning in 2012. It appears that the originally proposed 2012 energy conservation code, which would be a 30% improvement, will be approved for commercial properties. Furthermore, a "voluntary" 30% residential code will be placed in the appendix of the new building code and homes that are built to this higher energy efficiency standard will receive a special recognition or certification (details still to be determined). This compromise package has been recommended by these committees to the full Building Code Council for approval at the Tuesday, December 14th meeting.

Our state's high performance building and retrofitting industry is a robust, resilient and rapidly growing sector of North Carolina's economy - a bright spot in an otherwise on-going sluggish housing market due to the recession. In fact, NC's green building industry grew 13% in the last year and now represents more than 1,600 jobs in all regions of our state. Furthermore, NC is home to 7,326 energy efficiency related jobs. Click here to learn more.

REMINDER: Supporters of the stronger energy conservation building code are encouraged to attend the upcoming meetings of the NC Building Code Council on December 13 & 14. More Information on these meetings are below: