The House of Representatives and Senate recently appointed negotiators to reach a final agreement on a comprehensive energy bill. NLBMDA supports a provision included in the House-passed version of the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act (H.R. 8) that would de
fine the Department of Energy's (DOE) role in new model energy code development and guarantees that certain products and technologies are not given preferential treatment.
Championed by Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Kurt Schrader (D-OR), the provision seeks to define DOE's role in code development by:
- Increasing Transparency: Requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to publish energy savings targets, code change proposals and all supporting analysis and methodology in the Federal Register and accept public comment;
- Ensuring Product and Technology-Neutrality: Strengthens DOE's role as a neutral, technical advisor, but prohibits DOE from advocating for certain products/technologies; and,
- Promoting Cost-Effectiveness: Requires any code or proposal supported by DOE to have a simple payback (increased compliance costs should be paid back through utility savings) of 10 years or less.
The Senate version of the energy bill (S. 2012) does not include the NLBMDA-backed building code language.
Dealers should visit NLBMDA's
Legislative Action Center and
write a letter or
send a tweet to their lawmakers asking them to support the "Blackburn-Schrader" provision as part of a final agreement. Your efforts are especially important if you are a constituent to any lawmakers negotiating a final agreement (
click here to view the list of negotiators).