In October, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Board of Directors approved a proposed change, referred to as Addendum J, to the ASHRAE Standard 62.2, Ventilation and Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Residential Buildings that would ban unvented combustion space heaters, including those fueled by natural gas, from use for compliance with the standard. ASHRAE Standard 62.2 is a recognized standard for ventilation system design and acceptable indoor air quality, which specifies minimum ventilation rates and other measures intended to minimize adverse health effects for building occupants.  The proposed Addendum j defines a combustion space heater as “an appliance that is permanently installed within a space and intended to provide heating or decorative effects to that space through the direct combustion of a fuel” and adds a provision that prohibits their use in residential homes that must comply with the standard. It is important to note that ASHRAE appeals cannot be made on technical issues and must be focused on procedural issues.  Therefore, AGA’s appeal is based on two procedural issues in the development of Addendum j, failure to adequately address public comments (due process) and failure to provide materially affected individuals with access to the white paper that was used to substantiate this addendum. We will report the status of the appeal as it progresses through the appeals process.

 

On Tuesday, the ICC announced that the public comment period for the Public Comment Draft #1 IECC-Residential, IRC Chapter 11, and ICC Performance Code Energy Efficiency Chapter is now open on energy.cdpaccess.  The public comment period will be open until Friday, December 16 at 11:59 pm Pacific. More information on how to submit public comments/code changes/errata is posted on energy.cdpaccess. As a reminder the entirety of the IECC-Residential, IRC Chapter 11 & Energy Appendices, and ICC Performance Code Energy Efficiency Chapter are available for code changes/comments during this period. A strikethrough/underline version of the IECC-Residential Public Comment Draft #1 is posted here as well as a Chapter 11 of the IRC posted here.  There are a number of major concerns within the Public Comment Draft  that the gas industry needs to object being included in the IECC  including  provision R404.5 Electric readiness that requires that residential homes  using fossil fuel: water heaters, household clothes dryers, conventional cooking tops or conventional ovens shall comply with the requirements that mandate electric provisions need to be included to accommodate electric appliances and  section R404.7 Electric Vehicle Power Transfer Infrastructure that requires Electric Vehicle charging systems are required to be installed as part of the compliance with the IECC. Neither provision saves energy in the building. AGA BECS staff will be putting together a summary of specific concerns with the draft and BECS Committee members are requested to review the draft and provide comments on specific proposals of concern by November 20.