State is urged to tweak building codes

Members of Hawaii’s energy community testified Thursday in support of the state’s plan to be more energy efficient and abide by tropical standards.

The State Building Code Council proposed to update the minimal requirements for building construction and design to the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code. The state currently abides by the International Energy Conservation Code of 2006. If approved, all state buildings will have to comply with the new code.

One notable change in the 2015 code is a specific code for tropical climates.

“It’s not just a mainland standard,” said Jeff Mikulina, executive director of Blue Planet Foundation. “It reflects our tropical environment.”

The tropical building code requirements include less than half the space being air-conditioned; occupied space not being heated; and more than 80 percent of solar, wind or other renewable energy being used for water heating.

“This unique option encourages homes that will have little to no air conditioning to utilize Hawaii’s trade winds and unique island climate to reduce cooling energy,” Ramsey Brown, engineer for the state’s energy efficiency program, Hawaii Energy, said in an email.

The update will require the installation of higher-efficiency air conditioning and lighting. In the first year, the residential building energy costs would be reduced by 21.1 percent, according to a February report from Richland, Wash.-based Pacific Northwest National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Blue Planet Foundation and Hawaii Energy testified Thursday in “strong support” of the change.

“It’s a wholesale upgrade from 2006,” Mikulina said. “Technology has moved along so quickly, particularly with building automation.”

The Blue Planet Foundation said that the building codes need to be updated to match Hawaii’s aggressive plans to reach 100 percent renewable-energy dependence by 2045.

“These policy and technical advancements have left a gap between the existing code and today’s energy realities,” the Blue Planet Foundation said in its testimony. “The proposed 2015 update will take important steps to narrow the gap. Energy efficiency is the most cost-effective energy resource available in the state, costing a fraction of fossil fuel-powered electricity.”

Mikulina said that in the past year alone the state has added the equivalent of a 90-megawatt wind farm in energy efficiency measures taken by Hawaii residents.

Mikulina said that depending on the price of electricity, the savings could amount to $1.5 billion statewide after year 2036.

“It’s kind of quiet, behind-the-scenes things you just don’t think about,” he said. “We see it as the true bridge to 100 percent renewable.”

“When translated into dollars, the billions in savings plainly illustrate the enormous benefit of the proposed amendments,” the Blue Planet Foundation said in its testimony.

Mikulina said that after the Small Business Regulatory Review Board reviews the changed rule, it has to receive Gov. David Ige’s approval of the rule and be sent to the Office of the Lieutenant Governor.