§6838 Cost-effective codes implementation for efficiency and resilience

Summary

Creates a competitive grant program in the Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office to help put updated building energy codes into practice in a cost-effective way. Definitions: “eligible entity” = a State agency (for example, a State building code agency, State energy office, or Tribal energy office) or a partnership; “partnership” = a team that includes such a State agency plus one or more partners (like local building code agencies, codes developers, builder/designer groups, local or utility energy efficiency programs, consumer or environmental advocates, or others the Secretary allows); “Secretary” = the Secretary of Energy. Grants will support any update made after the current code, even if it is not the very latest update. Grants are awarded competitively. The Secretary will look at projected energy savings and how those savings will be measured (using tools like EPA Portfolio Manager, the DOE Home Energy Score, EPA Energy Star Building ratings, or other approved methods), whether savings will last, expected benefits and how they will be checked (including resilience and peak load reduction, occupant safety and health, and environmental performance), the applicant’s ability to do the work, and the applicant’s need. Partnerships get priority. Grant money can be used to form state or regional partnerships to train builders and code officials, collect and share data, create plans to measure compliance, help rural and urban areas, and put updated codes into practice for new buildings and for additions and renovations. Training can cover links to high-performance or zero-net-energy buildings, resilience, health and safety, water and environmental impacts, and economic effects. The law authorizes $225,000,000 for fiscal years 2022 through 2026.