New Jersey to receive another $75 million in ARRA funding; several states updating building energy codes to qualify

Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu recently announced plans to invest $3.2 billion in energy efficiency and conservation projects, including $75,468,200 for state, county and city efforts in New Jersey. This builds on an investment of $192,464,296 in New Jersey weatherization and energy funding announced by the Administration in March. Funded by President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program will pay for projects that improve energy efficiency and reduce total energy use and fossil fuel emissions. Among several eligible activities, the funding will support energy efficiency retrofits in residential and commercial buildings and development and implementation of advanced building codes. For more, view the DOE press release.

To qualify for stimulus funding, states must meet or exceed the most stringent national model code and standards, currently the 2009 IECC for residential buildings and ASHRAE 90.1-2007 for commercial buildings, and show 90 percent compliance within eight years. Several states are jumping on board, including New York, which introduced a bill in late April in the New York State Assembly that would require updating the state building code to include the 2009 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1-2007 and achieving compliance in at least 90 percent of new and renovated building space by the end of 2016. The bill, if passed, would address the requirements set forth in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The bill (AB 7735) was assigned to the Assembly Committee on Energy on April 23. For more, view the bill.

On March 17, a similar bill was introduced in the Rhode Island State Legislature that would mandate updating the state building code to include the 2009 IECC and ASHRAE 90.1-2007 and achieving compliance in 90 percent of new and renovated building space by February 2017. The bill (HB 5986) has passed both the House and Senate, and has been sent to the Governor's office.

The South Carolina State Legislature is also currently considering companion bills (HB 3550, SB 719) that would mandate the 2006 IECC for all new and renovated buildings effective July 1, 2009. Under the new legislation, local building officials would be required to enforce the new standards and areas without building code officials would be assigned alternate enforcers. The bills are currently residing in the Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry.