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Washington's building energy code tightened
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Blower doors help find house leaks that waste energy. Department of Energy photo
The Washington State Building Code Council has adopted code revisions strengthening energy efficiency requirements for new residential and commercial buildings.
The changes, which take effect July 1, 2010, will make new buildings 15 to 18 percent more efficient than those built today.
The Washington State Department of Commerce estimated that the new residential requirements would add about $1 per square foot to the price of a new house. The NW Energy Coalition estimated that homeowners would recoup the higher costs through energy bill savings in one year or less.
The new residential requirements include installation of programmable thermostats on all primary heating systems, blower door testing to detect air leaks, duct tests for all HVAC systems, and posting of a certificate describing new homes' energy efficiency features.
For commercial buildings, the new requirements include better lighting controls, including occupancy sensors, upgraded ceiling insulation, more energy-efficient windows, and sub-metering so that tenants can manage their energy use.
Kim Drury, manager of the NW Energy Coalition's Efficiency Works! campaign, said: "The beauty of energy codes is that the savings are pretty much hard-wired. The buildings built today will be with us for the next 50 to 100 years saving energy and saving money. It's expensive and often impossible to achieve the same energy savings that can be built in so economically when it's constructed - an opportunity we can't afford to lose."
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