National Labs Study Finds Updating Building Energy Codes Can Save Lives in Face of Intensifying Climate Hazards
As heat alerts affected nearly 110 million people, a third of the U.S. population across 15 states, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a new report on July 13 called "Enhancing Resilience in Buildings Through Energy Efficiency." The report – which followed a study by a team of energy experts from DOE’s Building Energy Codes Program, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory – outlines the value for states and communities that adopt the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code® (IECC) to enhance resilience in response to more frequent and intense extreme weather events attributed to a changing climate.
The report underscores the impact of the 2021 IECC in protecting occupants from extreme temperatures due to power outages associated with hazard events.