…The commission left what Shawn Teigen, the vice president and research director of the Utah Foundation, considers to be a “loophole” in the housing code.
Instead of implementing an Energy Rating Index that would create a minimum energy performance standard for homes, they kept the current performance mechanism known as a REScheck.
A REScheck essentially allows homebuilders to trade off what energy-efficient protocols to follow. For example, if a developer installs an energy-saving furnace, they can get away with not putting the required amount of insulation in the walls.
The commission approved their amended version of the housing code and sent it off to the Utah Legislature’s Business, Economic Development, and Labor Appropriations Subcommittee for approval. If approved, lawmakers will vote on the housing code during the 2023 legislative session.
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