DOE to Perform Further Analysis Related to 2004/2005 IECC/IRC Residential Code Change Proposals
DOE proposed an extensive simplification of the 2003 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and the International Residential Code (IRC) at code hearings in 2003 and 2004. To obtain consensus on these changes, DOE made it clear that it would not propose or support increased stringency in the hearings leading up to the 2006 IECC and IRC. DOE's proposals were accepted at the hearings in 2003, but they were subsequently modified in the IECC through floor amendments. The proposals from the floor, made wall R-values in several climate zones more stringent, and strengthened and extended trade-off limits for U-factors and solar heat gain coefficients (SHGC) on fenestration products in several climate zones. These amendments from the floor were not accepted in the energy chapter of the IRC.
In the absence of any technical documentation for the floor amendments, the Department conducted an initial analysis and posted the results on this web-site February 23, 2005. The Department has withdrawn this initial analysis pending the completion of further studies and the availability of more adequate cost information. It believes that there are deficiencies in its initial analysis and is still not satisfied by the efforts to revise the analysis. Specifically, the Department believes that more data is needed to fully address the potential cost impacts of various insulation options, and potential opportunity for the use of insulating sheathing for all building locations, including seismic and hurricane zones. DOE will use a review and comment approach before finalizing any analysis on the current IECC and IRC formulations. The Department believes that a comprehensive analysis is needed before a confident decision can be made regarding the 2004 IECC floor amendments.
For future rounds of code development, the Department anticipates performing additional studies and analysis that will address the potential for significant energy efficiency improvements based on results and findings from on-going residential and commercial building integration research and development. These future analyses will also be conducted with review and comment, and will likely go beyond the scope of the current amendments being considered.
DOE's Public Comment for May 2004 ICC Hearing
DOE's Public Comments on the results of the ICC's September, 2003, public
hearing on code change proposals for the 2003/2004 Code Development Cycle
are still available for review and your information. They were considered
by the ICC membership at the ICC's Final Action Hearings in May, 2004.
DOE's Code Changes Approved at September 2003 ICC Hearing
The ICC building code hearings were held in September in Nashville. DOE's
proposed rewrite of the residential portion of the IECC (International Energy
Conservation Code) was approved as modified (several changes being introduced
by floor motion). An unofficial copy of the approved text with markings
to indicate the modifications can be viewed at http://www.energycodes.info/.
DOE's rewrite of the energy chapter, Chapter 11, of the IRC (International
Residential Code) was also approved as modified (a few changes being introduced
by floor motion).
DOE's three commercial code changes (shown below) were also approved.
A full report of the September hearing is available from ICC at http://www.iccsafe.org/cs/codes/2003-04cycle/index.html.
Public comments on the results of the September hearing were due back to
the ICC by January 14th, 2004. The public hearing for ICC's final action
of this code development cycle will take place at the ICC hearing May 17-20th,
2004 in Overland Park Kansas. The ICC web site at http://www.iccsafe.org/cs/codes
describes the ICC code development process.
DOE Credited with Energy Code Work by ICC Journal
In part of the report from the Nov/Dec 2003 ICC Journal “Building
Safety”:
“The major item with respect to the IECC was Proposed Code Change
EC48-03/04, submitted by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which accounted
for approximately 3 1/2 hours of the hearings and involved additional discussion
of six floor amendments prior to being approved with modifications. The
end result is that the first six chapters of the 2003 IECC will be deleted
and replaced by four new chapters. Coordinated revisions were also made
by the IRC Building/Energy Committee to the IRC residential energy requirements.
The primary reason for these changes was to simplify the residential provisions
and replace them with a document that could make the code more usable, ease
enforcement and provide better compliance. To this end, the climate zones
were modified so that there are fewer zones and they apply countywide. Window/wall
limitations that had previously applied were also eliminated.”
DOE Code Proposal History
The Department of Energy (DOE) has submitted a major code change proposal
to the IECC (International Energy Conservation Code) for the next code change
cycle. The proposal completely revises the residential provisions (existing
IECC chapters 4, 5, and 6), creates new climate zones (chapter 3), and updates
the administrative and definitions chapters (chapters 1 and 2) of the IECC.
In addition, a parallel code change to revise the energy chapter of the
IRC (International Residential Code) was submitted.
DOE went through an extensive period of interaction with a wide variety
of interested parties, including both manufacturers and code users. Hundreds
of comments were received and several drafts were made public. The end result
is the code text linked below, which is the same as submitted into the ICC
code change process. The key focus of the proposed code changes is to make
the energy code in the IECC and IRC more usable. The department wishes to
extend its thanks to all participants in this process.
Documents on this page are available in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. Download
Acrobat Reader
A map of the new climate zones is below.
DOE has also proposed three changes to the commercial part of the IECC.
The changes propose to:
Support Documents
For more information on the revised climate zones see the following links.
One of the most notable of DOE's proposed changes is the elimination of
the dependence of thermal requirements on the window-wall ratio (WWR) of
a home. This is discussed at length in the WWR white paper listed below.
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