• 

  Tweet This

• 

  Post on Facebook

• 

  Post to Digg

• 

  Stumble this!

Here are some excerpts from the energy bill that passed the House of Misrepresentatives and is being considered by the Senate. Sorry for the tediousness, but you know how these bills are written. Heck, the politicians don’t read them, so what do they care?The bottom line: The Department of Energy would write a national residential building energy code and impose it on the states and localities — and us.  The operative word is code. This will not be a list of suggestions.However, I have not found language yet that would prohibit us from selling our homes until we submitted to and passed a government energy-efficiency inspection. Rumors abound that the bill would do this, but I have not found such a provision. In fact, a House staffer tells me the bill does not contain such explicit language, but that the language could be interpreted that way by a secretary of energy.   Here are the relevant provisions.

There shall be established national energy efficiency building codes under this subsection, for residential and commercial buildings, sufficient to meet each of the national building code energy efficiency targets established under subsection (a), not later than the date that is 1 year after the deadline for establishment of each such target, except that the national energy efficiency building code established to meet the target described in subsection (a)(1)(A) shall be established by not later than 15 months after the effective date of that target….[The Secretary shall] disseminate the national energy efficiency building codes to State, tribal, and local code officials, and support training and provide guidance and technical assistance to such officials as appropriate….Not later than 1 year after a national energy efficiency building code for residential or commercial buildings is established or revised under subsection (b), each State– … [shall] review and update the provisions of its building code regarding energy efficiency to meet or exceed the target met in the new national energy efficiency building code, to achieve equivalent or greater energy savings;…Upon the expiration of 18 months after a national energy efficiency building code is established under subsection (b), in any jurisdiction where the State has not had a certification relating to that code accepted by the Secretary under subsection (c)(2)(B), and the local government has not had a certification relating to that code accepted by the Secretary under subsection (e)(5), the national energy efficiency building code shall become the applicable energy efficiency building code for such jurisdiction. [Emphasis added.]Each State, or where applicable under State law each local government, shall implement and enforce applicable State or local codes with respect to which a certification was accepted by the Secretary under subsection (c)(2)(B) or paragraph (5) of this subsection, or the national energy efficiency building codes, as provided in this subsection….A State shall be considered to achieve compliance with a code described in paragraph (2)(A) if at least 90 percent of new and substantially renovated building space in that State in the preceding year upon inspection meets the requirements of the code.