An international organization that develops model codes and standards for new construction is quietly preparing an energy conservation code that opponents argue is a backdoor climate initiative and will lead to higher home prices.
The International Code Council (ICC) — a Washington, D.C.-based group that regularly issues more than a dozen codes regulating new construction and impacting billions of people worldwide — is expected to finalize its 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) early next week. While previous IECCs received little opposition, the 2024 version has been widely criticized for prioritizing climate initiatives over energy efficiency.
“They’re incentivizing electrification and discriminating against the natural gas industry by excluding it from being part of the code,” Karen Harbert, the president and CEO of the American Gas Association (AGA), told Fox News Digital in an interview. “That really is anticompetitive behavior.”
“If you are about energy efficiency, you should say, ‘We are about energy efficiency however you get there’ — being fuel neutral. But in this case, they are prescribing the way to get there, and it only includes electrification.”
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A man installs a solar panel on the roof of a home. (AP Photo/John Minchillo/File)
AGA, whose members provide natural gas service to 180 million customers nationwide, has argued in recent months that the ICC developed its 2024 energy efficiency code with…
