State Building Code Council Adopts News Rules Promoting Energy Conservation and Building Safety

ALBANY, NY (04/02/2010)(readMedia)-- Secretary of State Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez announced today that the State Fire Prevention and Building Code Council has voted to adopt internationally accepted and up-to-date building and energy conservation codes, thereby promoting high standards of safety and energy efficiency for New York buildings.

"Governor Paterson has set one of the most aggressive clean energy and energy conservation goals in the country, and the decision made today by the state Code Council positions New York to lead the nation in energy efficiency and move us closer to the Governor's goal," Secretary Cortés-Vázquez said. "Ensuring all new buildings built in the state abide by strong provisions for energy conservation will help New Yorkers reduce energy consumption – while at the same time saving them money on home energy bills."

The building codes approved today comprise updated versions of the International Codes, published by the International Code Council. In addition, the state's energy code will follow the most recent version of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard. These codes and standards determine the size of heating, cooling, and insulation systems in buildings; where fire exits should be located; and how electrical wiring should be installed, among other basic building requirements.

More than 3,500 code enforcement officials in New York use the codes to ensure the safety of the people who occupy hundreds of thousands of buildings throughout the state – publicly and privately owned, residential and commercial. The Secretary expects the regulations, approved yesterday, to go into effect by the end of the year.

With regard to the energy code, a little-known stipulation of 2009's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act says that for states to qualify for stimulus funding for energy-related programs – $123 million in New York's case – they must agree to adopt building energy codes based on the 2009 IECC for residential buildings and the 2007 ASHRAE guidelines for commercial buildings – what New York's Code Council just approved. States must also chart out a way to ensure that 90 percent of all new construction and renovation projects comply with the new codes by 2017.

Though they have all agreed to do so, many states have not begun the process of updating their codes, and today's vote once again establishes New York as a national leader in building efficiency. A number of states do not currently have the infrastructure to implement such changes to their energy codes, and they are now looking to New York for suggestions in how best to train their code enforcement officers and, to that end, how to ensure their building stock is compliant with the Recovery Act.

In addition to adopting the updated building codes today, the Code Council added a number of provisions that will significantly improve energy efficiency for new homes built in the coming years. For example, the new codes allow for the construction of conditioned attics, which (as opposed to warm, vented attics) help prevent cool air from leaking out of a home during the summer, reducing the need for air conditioning. They also reduce the home's energy needs in the heating season. The use of conditioned attics allows for contractors to downsize HVAC systems by 20 percent. Another New York-specific change helps ensure that fireplaces are built in a way that, when not in use, prevents heat from escaping a home as easily.

As the new regulations passed the Code Council, Secretary Cortés-Vázquez called on code enforcement officials to ensure they are up-to-date with their training. She is requesting that municipalities check with the Department of State to ensure their code officials are in fact taking the required amount of annual training courses.

"Local code officials are our eyes and ears in the field; they are the ones who ensure our families and colleagues are safe in the buildings where they live and work and that the codes created to keep them safe are implemented," Secretary Cortés-Vázquez said. "The best code available is not effective unless positive, proactive code enforcement is present. That's why I'm calling on these public servants to stay current with their training and study the coming changes to the building codes."

The New York state building code comprises the Uniform Fire Prevention and Building Code, commonly referred to as the Uniform Code, and the Energy Conservation Construction Code, or the Energy Code. The latest wholesale update to the codes took place in 2007, and those codes were the first ever to be published online on a single state website. Please visit www.dos.state.ny.us/code/ls-codes.html to learn more.

Additional news available at http://www.dos.state.ny.us/about/new2.htm.

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