I think it’s going to hurt small builders.” “I think it’s going to hurt affordable housing. “I find it’s going to make things way too expensive,” said Tom Handy, a Whitman County commissioner and council member. Opponents warned the changes will result in higher costs for builders, home buyers and renters, and said they will put the state out of compliance with federal regulations.

“The council’s energy codes for new construction are a critical part of the solution to cleaner air for our communities.”

“Ultra-efficient buildings powered by clean electricity in Washington state are a climate and public health imperative, and these energy codes use proven technology to get us there,” said Rachel Koller, managing director of Shift Zero, in a statement. The appliances are more energy efficient and result in less pollution than gas furnaces.īut months of discussion culminating with Tuesday’s four-hour meeting didn’t end divisions over the heating technology or the council’s regulatory undertaking.īackers hailed the new codes as among the most climate and health friendly in the nation and said they would help to keep Washington on course to meet its goals paring greenhouse gas emissions from homes and commercial buildings.

What the council enacted Tuesday offers builders incentives in the permitting process for choosing electric heat pumps – which provide both heating and cooling in the same unit – instead of natural gas furnaces. One of those cases remains pending in Thurston County Superior Court. But it paused them in May after a federal appeals court scrapped similar regulations in a California city, and as opponents to Washington’s policy filed their own lawsuits. The Building Code Council had approved new codes mandating the use of heat pumps in most new construction.

The new rules will take effect Mabarring unforeseen twists, such as legal roadblocks – which could arise. The suite of changes, approved by the Washington State Building Code Council, is part of a broader effort by the state to slash carbon emissions and increase energy efficiency in residential and commercial construction. Controversial requirements aimed at getting electric heat pumps installed in newly constructed houses, apartments and commercial buildings cleared a final regulatory hurdle Tuesday.

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