ICC Board of Directors (BOD) Approves the Proposed 2024 International Energy Conservation Code Appeals Process.
The International Code Councils activities to develop the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) that began in mid-2021 for both Residential homes and Commercial buildings is coming to end. As a reminder, 2 Consensus Committees of 50 representatives each, one for the Residential Energy Code provisions and one for the Commercial Energy Code were established to develop revisions to the 2021 Edition of the IECC. As part of the code development process, there is an appeals procedure that permits the public to object to the final proposed versions of the 2024 Editions of the IECC. AGA staff has identified a number of concerns with both the draft Residential and Commercial 2024 Editions of the IECC and plans to submit an appeal mainly on procedural and content issues that we have identified as inappropriate in the code development process including concerns with modifications of the Scope provisions during the code development, lack of a proper cost effectiveness analysis on new energy provisions, committee balance, etc. The ICC BOD approval of the IECC appeals process provides an opportunity to seek changes to address the concerns. The ICC announced the IECC Appeals process this week is as follow:
- Follow Section 4.1 of CP-1 – Appeals for properly submitted appeals, including those concerning scope and intent.
- Appeals will be accepted for 30 days after the final committee balloting for the respective committee. Final committee balloting is anticipated to occur approximately on December 5, 2023.
The AGA BECS staff is in the process of developing a complete list of concerns with the proposed 2024 IECC and will provide additional information to the BECS Committee on our appeals approach and justification for the appeals in the near future. We will also be working with other groups who also have concerns with the proposed 2024 IECC provisions to assess possible joint efforts to make the appeals as complete, effective and successful as possible.
Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) Publishes a NOPR on a Proposed Safety Standard for Gas Furnaces and Boilers.
On Wednesday, CPSC published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) Federal Register Notice and notice of opportunity for oral presentation of comments on a proposed safety standard for residential gas furnaces, boilers, wall furnaces and floor furnaces. According to the NOPR, “ The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (Commission or CPSC) has determined preliminarily that there is an unreasonable risk of injury and death associated with residential gas fired central furnaces, boilers, wall furnaces, and floor furnaces (gas furnaces and boilers). To address this risk, the Commission proposes a rule to detect and prevent dangerous levels of carbon monoxide (CO) production and leakage from residential gas furnaces and boilers.” As reported in last week’s Update on End Use Codes and Standards, this action is a continuation of the CPSC November 19, 2019, Federal Register Notice, “ Performance Requirements for Residential Gas Furnaces and Boilers; Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking” (ANOPR). That ANOPR proposed that a carbon monoxide (CO) sensor be installed within the residential gas fired central furnace or boiler that would shut them down in the event of excessive CO production in the exhausted combustion products from these vented heating products. This NOPR adds gas fired wall furnace and floor furnaces to the proposed standard. According to the Notice, “Written comments must be received by December 26, 2023. Deadline for Request to Present Oral Comments: Any person interested in making an oral presentation must send an email indicating this intent to the Office of the Secretary at cpsc-os@ cpsc.gov by December 26, 2023.” AGA staff is reviewing the proposal and requests BECS Committee members to also review it to assess possible responses to the information that CPSC is requesting in the NOPR.
State Codes Activity Update.
Attached is a weekly feature of the “Friday Update” covering state code calendar activities as presented by the online utility “Fiscal Note,” which is sponsored by APGA and AGA Code and Standards. Please review the update and determine if there are state code activities that impact your service territory or organization.