§6838 Cost-effective Codes Implementation for Efficiency and Resilience

Summary

The Secretary of Energy must set up a program in the Building Technologies Office to give competitive grants to qualified state or tribal agencies, or to partnerships, so they can pay for long-term, cost-effective use of updated building energy codes. An “eligible entity” is a state or tribal agency (like a building code or energy office) or a partnership. A “partnership” is a team that includes a state or tribal agency plus local code offices, builders’ or design groups, utilities or efficiency programs, consumer or environmental advocates, or other partners. “Secretary” means the Secretary of Energy. Grants must be awarded based on expected energy savings and how those savings will be measured (using tools like EPA Portfolio Manager, DOE Home Energy Score, or Energy Star building ratings), long-term durability of the savings, benefits like resilience, safety, and environmental performance, the applicant’s ability to do the work, and need for help. Priority goes to partnerships. Grants may pay for training and materials for builders and code officials, collecting and sharing data, plans to measure and improve code compliance, work in rural and urban areas, and applying updates to new buildings and to additions and renovations. Training can cover costs, performance, resilience, health, water, and economic impacts. Up to $225,000,000 is authorized for fiscal years 2022 through 2026.