Reminder – The Next Building Energy Codes and Standards Committee (BECS) Meeting is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, September 25-26, 2024, at The St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio, TX.

AGA Files Comments on the ICC Proposed 2027 International Energy Conservation Code Commercial and Residential Scope and Intent.

As background, in the July 19, 2024 BECS Committee Update on End Use Codes and Standards, we provided the International Code Councils (ICC)  Draft 2027 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC)  Commercial and Residential Scope and Intent.  The ICC Board of Directors developed the draft Scope and Intent for the 2027 International Energy Conservation Code® (IECC®) based on feedback they received on the 2024 IECC appeals process. Accompanying this draft was a commentary provided by the Board of Directors on the revisions made to the Scope and Intent. The draft Scope and commentary can be found at this link. We reported that the draft was for public comment until Monday, August 19, 2024, at 11:59 pm Pacific Time. After review and consideration of the public comments, the Board of Directors will then set the final Scope and Intent statements for the 2027 IECC.  

Following a distribution of a draft AGA response to the ICC request for comments on the proposed changes to the Scope and Intent and a request of the BECS Committee feedback, AGA developed and submitted the attached response to the ICC request. The comments capture specific concerns and outline recommendations that we believe if adopted, will improve the proposed ICC Scope and Intent and result in a clear and comprehensive understanding of the IECC’s Scope and Intent. Specifically, the AGA recommendations call for improvements in providing a more open and transparent process, including following due process for proper model consensus code development, etc.  The recommendations are intended to help ensure that in the development of the 2027 IECC, the process problems that caused excessive confusion and delays, resulting in the need to file appeals on the 2024 IECC that were primarily successful will not be necessary. The comments also requested that the Scope and Intent be clear that the provisions in the IECC including the Non-Mandatory Appendix provisions are directed specifically for improving the built environment covered in the IECC and is for reducing energy consumption and improving the energy efficiency of the residential and commercial structures covered by the code.  

We appreciate the assistance and comments from BECS Committee members who provided excellent feedback on the draft AGA comments, many of which were incorporated in the filed AGA response.  It is unclear when the ICC Board of Directors will issue its decision on their draft Scope and Intent and how it will address public comments submitted on the proposal. AGA has requested all public comments submitted on the proposal be made publicly available as well as the ICC’s response to those public comments.

AGA, APGA and NPGA Respond to the DOE Notice of Data Availability (NODA) for Evaluating Minimum Efficiency Requirements Gas Instantaneous Water Heaters.

Recall that back on July 28, 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy (‘‘DOE’’) published a notice of proposed rulemaking (‘‘NOPR’’), in which DOE proposed amended energy conservation standards for consumer water heaters (‘‘July 2023 NOPR’’). That DOE proposal required that for the most popular sizes for gas instantaneous water heaters, less than 2 gallon and greater than 50,000 Btu/hour, an efficiency level that requires condensing technology. On the effective date, that level would eliminate the manufacturing of any instantaneous gas water heaters that are non-condensing types. However in its May 6, 2024 Final Rule , DOE did not finalize a requirement for condensing only technology for gas instantaneous water heaters (giwh) by maintaining the current non-condensing minimum efficiency requirement.  For gas-fired instantaneous water heaters, DOE indicated that it was not finalizing standards in the May 2024 final rule, as it continued to consider comments submitted in response to earlier rulemaking stages before finalizing a decision on amended standards. On Tuesday, July 23^rd, DOE issued a Federal Register notice of data availability (NODA) pertaining to energy conservation standards for consumer water heaters, specifically gas-fired instantaneous water heaters.  In that NODA, DOE updated portions of its analysis for gas instantaneous water heaters (giwh’s) and requested comments, data, and information regarding the updated analysis in this NODA by August 22, 2024.

In reviewing the NODA, DOE is continuing to support a condensing only minimum efficiency requirement for giwh’s based on its analysis that includes condensing technology as an improvement in each of its trial stages for improving their efficiency.  AGA staff reviewed the NODA and reached out to other interested stake holders including equipment manufacturers etc., to assess the basis and validity of the DOE technical and economic NODA information and its impact on the availability of non-condensing giwh’s.  We have identified a number of concerns on how DOE conducted its analysis including assuming installation configurations based on central gas furnace installations that are not appropriate for giwh’s , questionable cost and venting materials assumptions that justify elimination of non-condensing giwh’s.  On August 18, 2024 we distributed a draft of AGA’s response that identify specific economic and technical concerns uncovered in the revised NODA.  We appreciate a number of BECS Committee members feedback on the draft and comments from other associations and finalized and timely filed the attached joint comments yesterday ( NOTE: Attached is the August 15, 2024 DOE rejection of a request for a 30 day filing extension) from AGA, the American Public Gas Association (APGA) and the National Propane Gas Association (NPGA). Based on the concerns and flaws in the DOE NODA provided in the joint comments, we requested that DOE issue a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNOPR) and include appropriate technical and economic adjustments in a revised Technical Support Document on consumer water heaters. We will provide the DOE response when available.  Access to the DOE site that will post all public comments on the NODA here.

International Code Council Conference, Expo, and Code Hearings Scheduled for Long Beach, CA,  October 20 to October 31.

The ICC Conference will be held at the Long Beach Convention Center on October 20 – 23, the Expo on October 20 – 21 and the Committee Action Code Hearings from October 23 – 31. The complete information on the 2024 Conference, Expo, and Committee Action Code Hearings can be found here. AGA is a supporter of the ICC Conference. Note that final actions on the proposed changes to the International Fuel Gas Code (IFGC) will be heard on Monday, October 28, 2024.