Report on the BECS Committee Meeting of May 8-9, 2024, in Litchfield, AZ.

Thanks to everyone who attended in-person or participated virtually in this week’s very productive, May 8-9, 2024, BECS Committee meeting held in Litchfield, AZ.  The draft minutes of the meeting will be sent out in the near future.  All presentations made at the meeting will be posted on the BECS Committee site soon.

AGA, APGA and NPGA Submit Recommendations to the ICC to Improve the Development and Appeals Process for the International Energy Conservation Code.

Last week, AGA, the American Public Gas Association (APGA), and the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA) filed joint comments (attached),  to  the International Code Council (ICC) on a number of recommendations to improve the development and appeals process for the International Energy Conservation Code–Commercial, International Energy Conservation Code – Residential, and International Residential Code – Chapter 11 (collectively, “IECC”).  These comments are in response to a recent call for comment regarding the development process, appeals process, and scope and intent of the IECC in the ICC  April 11th Building Safety Journal  (BSJ) article requesting feedback on the IECC development and appeals process that was recently completed for the 2024 Edition of the IECC. Recall that numerous articles on the 2024 IECC development have been provided in the BECS “Update on End Use Codes and Standards” weekly reports and the joint comments were submitted with the intent of providing constructive recommendations that if adopted by the ICC, will avoid the extensive controversy, and appeals that occurred in developing the 2024 Edition of the IECC.  Note that the ICC has left the portal open for online filing of comments here  online form  and has it posted on the appeals webpage in support of the feedback request stated in the April 11th Building Safety Journal article. While the BSJ article indicates a deadline of May 1st this link will remain active beyond that date and BECS Committee members are encouraged to submit comments with suggestions for improvements. The IECC is a very important document, cited in federal law and a variety of other programs that impacts energy choices, and requirements for construction for the residential and commercial built environment. Improvements in the development and appeals process will go a long way to avoid the problems and delays that occurred during the 2024 IECC edition development.

AHRI Releases the March,  2024 Heating and Cooling Equipment Shipment Data.

For those interested in shipment trends for residential and commercial gas and electric storage type water heaters, residential gas and oil furnaces, electric heat pumps and air-conditioners, click here for the May, 10,  2024 Air-Conditioning Heating, & Refrigeration (AHRI) Press Release that provides the March, 2024 U.S. Heating and Cooling Equipment Shipment Data. For previous monthly shipment releases and historical data, please click here . You may also wish to share this information with other groups or individuals within your organization that would be interested in this shipment data.