WASHINGTON, June 11 (UPI) -- The Bush administration Tuesday awarded nearly $2 million to 22 states to help them upgrade their building codes to improve energy efficiency less than three weeks after refusing to tighten standards for air conditioners to the extent called for by environmentalists.
The Department of Energy said the funding would lead to more homes and commercial buildings that use less energy for heating and cooling.
"These grants will enable states to improve the energy efficiency of new and renovated buildings by upgrading building codes, and will provide energy code training to more than 2,000 architects, builders, code officials and engineers," Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said.
The awards range from a high of $150,000 awarded to Maryland to a low of $15,000 for Virginia. The department said its previous work in upgrading building codes had improved the energy efficiency of 4 million homes and nearly 3 billion square-feet of office space to the tune of $105 for every $1 spent.
Building codes can play an important role in improving energy efficiency because it is easier for builders to make upgrades in heating, cooling and lighting systems as well as insulation and windows during construction and renovations, which are governed by local building codes.
Codes are updated regularly in many states to incorporate advances in construction and energy technologies.
Many environmentalists were disappointed when the White House announced May 23 it was requiring air conditioners, a major energy consumer both in the home and office, to be 20 percent more efficient starting in 2004. The decision overturned a Clinton administration plan to require a 30-percent increase in efficiency.
Members of the building industry, however, have said a better strategy was providing tax breaks for improved energy efficiency and also making the rules and guidelines easier to understand.
"Our customers are telling us to simplify the standard," Lawrence Spielvogel of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers. "If the standard is simpler, it will be used more. If it is used more, more energy will be saved. The fastest, best route to increased energy savings is to simplify the standard."
(Reported by Hil Anderson, UPI Chief Energy Correspondent)
