October 1, 2009

In January the City of Houston adopted amendments to the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code & Chapter 11 of the 2000 International Residential Code. As part of the city’s commitment to energy efficiency, the amendments included increased phased requirements effective October 1, 2009.

Beginning October 1, 2009, all new construction of Single Family Residential and Multifamily (3 stories in height or less) will be required to achieve a 15% minimum improvement in energy efficiency above the Houston Residential Energy Conservation Code.

During our process of meeting with stakeholders to prepare for the implementation of the changes, we identified some areas that needed some modification to ensure easier compliance. These minor modifications were approved by City Council on September 30.

A summary of the modifications to the code are as follows:

Deleting the 15% above requirement for additions  only new constructions will need to comply.

Allowing other above code programs in addition to the Energy Star program  this will allow for other programs when approved by the Building Official.

Allowing other software programs to evaluate above code percentage.

Decreased areas in the option packages to provide easier compliance, while still maintaining the 15% above code minimums.

Added a new option package table for Multi-family structures for electric resistance heating most multi-family new construction projects are built with electric compared to gas.

To assist in this process, we are also preparing a guideline and adding a supplemental page to the current City of Houston Energy Form for use with the option packages.

For additional information contact the City of Houston Planning and Development web site.