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Energy Code board votes to remove two cost‑based appendices from draft code
Summary
Board members voted in a straw poll to remove appendices RM and CL — optional cost‑based compliance paths — from the statewide low energy and carbon code draft. The board directed staff to publish the base code without those appendices and to carry forward follow‑up analysis for remaining alternative compliance materials.
The Energy Code Board voted in a straw poll to remove appendices RM and CL, optional cost‑based compliance appendices, from the state'wide low energy and carbon code draft.
The vote came during the board's public meeting; 12 members voted to remove the appendices, 7 voted to retain them and 0 abstained. Board staff said the board will publish the main code without RM and CL and will not proceed with Elizabeth's suggested edits to RM because the appendix will be removed.
Board members who supported removal said the appendices introduce a cost‑based metric that can bias outcomes toward combustion fuels and could undermine the code's energy‑and‑carbon focus if jurisdictions adopted the appendices as a preferred local alternative. Carolyn (board member) said keeping the cost metric as an appendix risks it becoming a default path in some localities, which would undercut the statewide objective to prioritize site energy/performance.
Members who opposed removal argued appendices are optional and jurisdictions can choose not to adopt them; several said saving the optional path could ease community concerns during transition. Tim (board member) said jurisdictions make their own adoption choices and the appendices could be selected locally through a public process.
The board's staff clarified that appendices RM and CL were drafted as optional alternate compliance metrics and would only apply if a local jurisdiction adopts them. But several board members said that because the board itself produced these appendices, their presence in the state document could be read as endorsement and therefore create statewide pressure to use them.
The straw poll result will inform staff drafting; the board's final vote to adopt any code language will occur in a later meeting. Staff said they will remove RM and CL from the draft published to jurisdictions and continue outreach to stakeholders who requested those options.
Actions recorded: the meeting earlier approved meeting minutes (mover: Kevin; second: Ron; outcome: approved) and the straw poll to remove appendices RM and CL passed (yes:12 no:7 abstain:0).
