The metropolitan Las Vegas community has raised the bar on energy conservation and efficiency in the building industry.
The five local governmental jurisdictions – Clark County, Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas, and Boulder City – have adopted the 2003 International Energy Conservation Code; the stricter code for the construction industry went into effect Aug. 1, 2005.
The code establishes minimum design and construction standards for improving energy efficiency in homes, businesses and other buildings. The code governs wall construction, lighting, alternative power services and all aspects of energy use in residential and commercial construction.
The International Energy Conservation Code replaces the 1992 Model Energy Code, the set of national energy-efficiency regulations based on the federal Energy Policy Act of 1992. The U.S. Department of Energy requires the adoption and implementation of the energy code.
In addition to the energy conservation benefit, the code is expected to save consumers money on their utility bills.
Building officials estimate it will cost an average of $1,500 per new home to comply with the upgraded energy efficiency requirements of the new code. But the homeowner will save about $400 a year on energy bills for a simple payback of less than four years. In commercial construction, the upgrades will cost about $1.60 per square foot, but result in energy bill savings of about 68 cents per square foot per year for a simple payback of about 2.4 years.
Adoption of the 2003 International Energy Conservation Code will produce a net savings in energy costs of about $1.86 billion for the period 2006-2020, according to the report, “Nevada Energy Efficiency Strategy,” prepared by the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project and the Nevada State Office of Energy.
A special committee of representatives from the local building departments, the Associated General Contractors (representing commercial construction) and the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association (representing residential construction) worked for about one year to put together a version of the International Energy Conservation Code that would be applicable to building conditions in Southern Nevada, such as the area’s soils and weather.
After a period of public review and comment, the new code was adopted by the local governmental entities.
“This was truly a team effort that required the collaboration of the construction industry and local jurisdictions to bring the new International Energy Conservation Code to our valley,” said Michael Bouse, director of building and fire safety for the city of Henderson, and chairman of the Southern Nevada Building Officials, an organization representing all the local building department officials.
Bouse said he hopes the collaborative process used to adopt the new energy code can be used for future evaluations of other construction codes used in the valley, leading to more streamlined and timely code adoptions.
A majority of Southern Nevada homebuilding companies were already building new housing above the requirements of the 1992 energy code, said Nat Hodgson, chairman of the special committee that worked on the local version of the new energy code.
“The homebuilders who participated on the Energy Code Committee were in favor of raising the bar to build homes that were even more energy efficient,” said Hodgson, vice president of construction for Pulte Homes in Nevada.
He said homebuilders’ commitment to the energy code adoption is indicative of the pride they have in their homes.
“The pride we take in the homes we produce is the reason that metropolitan Las Vegas ranked No. 1 in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2004 New-Home Builder Customer Satisfaction Study,” Hodgson said.
The International Energy Conservation Code is published by the International Code Council, an organization dedicated to building safety, fire prevention and developing codes used to construct residential and commercial buildings. Local building departments and their building inspectors administer and enforce the code.
The nation’s building industry has operated under a great number of energy-efficient requirements, beginning in the 1970s after the OPEC oil crisis, and accelerated in the 1980s, from governmental agencies such as the U.S. Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, Housing and Urban Development, the Veterans Administration and the Federal Housing Administration, and state and local energy and building agencies.
In addition, there are several voluntary energy-efficiency programs in the building industry aimed at conserving natural resources and satisfying consumer demand for energy-efficient features in housing. For example, more than 25 local home builders and master developers are members of Energy Star, a voluntary energy conservation program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and private industry. Energy Star homes are designed and built to use 30 percent less energy for heating and cooling compared with homes built under the Model Energy Code.
