After a contentious seven-hour meeting Friday, the State Building Code Council voted 11-3 to effectively ban traditional HVAC systems and natural gas in most new commercial and multi-family construction in favor of heat pumps. This concludes a yearlong effort by the code council to pass the Commercial Energy Code update that saw many AWB members and chamber partners weigh in over concerns about how this proposal will increase housing costs and negatively affect grid reliability.

The building code revisions go into effect July 1, 2023, at which time new businesses and apartments will have to mostly use heat pumps to warm air and water. In most instances, new buildings couldn’t use natural gas or electrical resistance systems such as baseboard heaters, wall heaters, radiant heat systems and electric furnaces.

There remains a question as to whether the state building code council has the authority to ban natural gas. The council is authorized to make changes in the name of energy efficiency, but does not have the authority to take action to ban an energy source for Washingtonians. In fact, the Legislature, which does have that authority, has declined for the past three years to pass bills which would ban natural gas. HB 1770, which would have specifically granted the code council this authority, died this year in the Senate, with three other governor request bills that would have banned natural gas.

The code proposal was able to pass after Gov. Jay Inslee suddenly appointed four new members to replace other members who had followed this process from the beginning and were planning on voting against the proposal.

Spokane County Commissioner Al French, a member of the building code council, voted against the provisions. He said it should be up to the Legislature to make major decisions, The Spokesman-Review reports.

“One of the criticisms I’ve had of this board for a long time is it’s not accountable,” French said at the meeting. “It’s not accountable to the Legislature, it’s not accountable to the public, and yet they make decisions that are far reaching.”

Similar heat pump proposals are being made over the next few months for the residential section of the state energy code. Anyone interested in reviewing the residential proposals or providing public comment may do so at sbcc.wa.gov.

Contact Government Affairs Director Peter Godlewski to learn more and get involved.