From: Columbia Missourian | Missouri bill could force Columbia to abandon sustainable building code requirements | Local | columbiamissourian.com

The Missouri House initially approved a bill Monday that would prevent municipalities from having any green or sustainable building standards in their codes if it would increase the cost of a building.

Municipalities with those provisions in their building codes would have to remove them. Those provisions include any features adopted after 2009 that are energy efficient, sustainable, high performance or environmentally responsive.

House Bill 939 cleared the Commerce and Rules committees before Monday’s initial approval. It’s likely to see a final vote this week or next before heading to the Senate.

The bill’s sponsor is Rep. Mike Jones, a Republican who represents District 12 near Kansas City.

Columbia adopted a building code developed in 2018 that includes more energy-efficient windows and water heaters, advanced lighting standards, thicker insulation and stricter requirements for ventilation efficiency.

The bill would turn codes back to the 2009 building requirements, meaning no municipality could demand that builders follow the most recent energy-efficient standards. The 2009 code has standards that were set before more environmentally conscious practices were added.

How building codes work

The International Code Council, sponsored by the building trades, creates model codes that are adopted as standards by most U.S. jurisdictions. The model codes are updated every three years to improve quality, health and safety in new construction, while avoiding a potential increase in costs.

If the bill becomes law, building codes in Missouri would be turned back more than 15 years. The impact could be “pretty significant,” said Alison Lindburg, director for building codes and policy at Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance.

It could put municipalities in Missouri behind most other Midwest states in energy efficiency standards.

This is the third time such a bill has been considered in the House, said Aaron Decker, building regulations supervisor at Columbia’s Building and Site Development. So far, no similar bills have become law in Midwestern states.

Impact on Columbia

A new law would change Columbia building codes for residential and energy conservation, Decker said. That means easing requirements on airtight doors and windows, energy-saving technologies like automatic dimming and other advanced lighting controls.

Builders also wouldn’t have to install advanced energy-efficient heating and cooling systems. General insulation standards and indoor air quality would also be lower, which could increase draftiness of the buildings and overall energy loss.

The current code includes high efficacy lighting standards (often LED lights) to make up 90% of the lighting in a house. It also demands better insulated windows and walls, compared to the 2015 code. Minimum R-5 insulation for slabs for heated homes is another requirement in the 2018 code.

“It would impact commercial development, and it would impact residential development both, hand in hand,” Decker said.

Since 2009, more advanced heating and cooling systems have been introduced. Homes now have better insulation and climate controls that are easier built to the most up-to-date standards,” Lindburg said. “They don’t have that knowledge that a state might limit these consumer-protection requirements.”

A new law would not prohibit homeowners from making changes to an existing home or adding energy-efficient features. But such independent upgrades are more expensive than installing features during initial construction, and those added costs would fall on future homeowners, she said.

“We shouldn’t be building any more buildings to outdated standards,” she said. “We should be building better buildings so that we don’t end up in 10 years with the same problem — a bunch of buildings that need upgrades because they’re inefficient and poor quality.”

Impact on housing costs

The bill sets up a classic trade-off between initial housing prices and future energy costs.

The bill’s proponents argue that housing prices can increase substantially because of demands in green-based building codes.

They refer to a 2022 report by the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City that claims the newest building codes could raise housing prices by roughly $30,000.

When Kansas City did adopt the 2021 code, the number of building permits in the city decreased by 54%, the proponents claim. A year later the number of permits increased by 49%.

The biggest expense would be installing double walls, the HBA reported, costing about $18,000 of the overall $30,000 estimated increase.

However, Lindburg said the new energy codes do not require this $18,000 installation and give much more flexibility to the builders who want to meet the requirements.

She said she believes that reverting to 2009 standards would have the opposite effect. It would have a direct impact on homeowners because less effective insulation and windows that are not energy-efficient would increase energy bills.

“Homes will be more expensive to operate in terms of utility bills, perhaps making it more difficult to make mortgage payments,” she said.

Impact on communities

Installing proper insulation, taking care of home electric appliances, having doors and windows that close tightly reduce drafts and keep energy inside a house, said Matt Nestor, spokesperson for Water and Light, Columbia’s municipal utility.

Energy efficiency also helps to limit the amount of energy that communities need.

“If everything’s running efficiently, that reduces not just the customer’s bills. If we’re not selling, it reduces our needed load as well,” Nestor said. “If we don’t have to sell as much to the customers, we don’t have to buy as much.”

In 2021 the U.S. Department of Energy estimated that if municipalities updated to the 2021 code, the average Missouri household would save $657 on energy each year and statewide use of energy in residential buildings could fall by 26%.

Most Missouri counties have never adopted 2015 or later codes, however, and are currently below 2009 standards.

Reverting to 2009 building code standards would be also problematic for municipalities that are trying to address climate change by adopting renewable energy targets or conserving more energy, Lindburg said.

Columbia wants to transition its power sector to 100% renewable energy, although a specific date has not been set, Nestor said.

The bill “would be counterproductive to the energy goals of the city of Columbia,” Decker said.

Role of builders

If the bill passes, it would be up to the builders to decide the next step, Decker said. A new law would not ban energy-efficiency practices; it would forbid authorities from requiring certain practices.

The builders may just decide to continue working with 2018 requirements because it makes economic sense, he said.

Adding LED lights is one example, Decker said. The 2018 standards require builders to put LED lights in buildings. These lights use 90% less energy than older incandescent bulbs and allow residents to save on utilities.

Because of their longer life-cycle and lower energy demand, adopting such bulbs creates less industrial waste and lowers carbon emissions in the atmosphere.

The 2009 standards don’t require LED lights, but they are now widespread across the nation since many localities comply with the 2015 or 2018 building code standards. From 2015 to 2020, the number of U.S. homes relying on mostly LED grew from 4% to 47%.

Thus, it has become easier and cheaper to install or replace LED lights than use the older, more wasteful incandescent light bulbs.

The situation with water heaters is similar. It is easier to find modern advanced heaters than older, less energy-efficient versions.

The older versions may have been cheaper, but the market supply has dwindled. Thus, buying more advanced energy-efficient heaters might be cheaper. Both the supply and demand for them is higher, Decker said.

“Would I choose to build to the 2009 building code, or would I choose to build to something like the 2015 or the 2018 building code?,” he asked.

”It’s going to be easier to find the product at a price point and build it to the 2015 or 2018 code because more and more people are building that way. It’s going to be more affordable to build it to a newer updated code.”