DOE 2021 National Energy Codes Conference Scheduled for July 20 -22.
As a reminder, this year’s DOE National Energy Codes Conference will be held virtually next week on  July 20-22. Information on registration, the agenda and speakers can be found here.  Note that the DOE Building Energy Codes Program is also offering a series of online webinars as a follow-on to the 2021 National Energy Codes Conference. The series includes a variety of special topics of interest to all energy code stakeholders—for both residential & commercial buildings. The events will be held “every other Thursday at 1 pm (eastern), beginning August 12, 2021”. “Electrification” of homes and buildings is one of the primary subjects of support not only in the National Energy Codes Conference but also  the follow up biweekly webinars. For example, the first two weekly webinars are titled “GRID INTEGRATION AND ELECTRIFICATION IN ENERGY CODES” on Thursday, August 12, 2021 and “APPROACHING ZERO, WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE FOR COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS?”  on Thursday, August 26, 2021. BECS committee members are encouraged to sign up and participate in both the July 20-22 Conference and the biweekly webinars that begin on August 12.  Proponents for “electrification” have been and will continue to be using the model energy code development process to include provisions that not only promote electrification but will propose provisions in the  model energy codes to discourage or prohibit the direct use of natural gas. With the Department of Energy’s and federal national laboratories ( Pacific Northwest National Laboratory-(PNNL)) programs, supporters of the benefits of natural gas to be continued to be included in the options for consumers energy choice for the built environment will be challenging but will need to be addressed as new editions of the model energy codes are being developed.

International Code Council (ICC) State Code Adoption Site Available.
The ICC posts information on state adoptions of all of the model codes including the International Fuel Gas Code, the International Energy Conservation Code, etc., including what editions have been adopted and also provides access to the specific model code adopted. BECS Committee members can access the site here . Simply clicking on the state provides the ICC model code adopted and permits online access of the chosen code for review. This is a useful site that members may wish to share with others within your organizations who will find this information beneficial in providing up to date state adopted code information for the state or area of interest.  The site also provides for sign up  for email notifications to keep currents as changes occur in state adoptions.

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.