Nov 07, 2017
All projects submitted for a building permit must adhere to the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), which was adopted in Denver in 2016. After a year of experience with this code and valuable feedback from customers, we have revised our energy code policy for residential projects.
The revised policy clearly lists the information to include with your building plans for each of the IECC's paths (prescriptive, simulated performance, or energy rating index [ERI]). It also covers what needs to be submitted to the inspector before a Certificate of Occupancy can be released.
After a 30-day grace period, the policy will be in effect on December 7th.
This revised IECC policy only applies to projects governed by the IECC's residential provisions. A similarly revised policy for commercial projects is forthcoming.
The items listed in part II are not new; most are stated in the code itself. However, our previous policy draft did not make it clear that items A through L in part II apply to all projects, regardless of whether you are using the prescriptive, performance, or ERI path.
As a reminder, include the location of vapor retarder when you mark the location of the building thermal envelope on your plans, details, and cross-sections.
The exceptions are new:
This section clarifies when additional information may be required, such as REScheck reports for projects doing the total UA alternative in the prescriptive approach, or compliance reports for the simulated performance alternative.
In part III, all of subsections D and E are new. Subsection D introduces a new option for existing buildings where the scope of work makes it challenging to isolate and measure the energy efficiency of the new/changed portion (e.g., pop-tops/additions, remodels, repairs, change of occupancy). These projects could compare ERI scores to demonstrate that the new structure uses the same or less energy as the original structure.
Our requirements for using an energy rater used to be contained only in a separate policy, IRC N1105 & IRC N1106 (PDF). This policy has also been updated and still exists, but its contents are now also reflected in part IV of the revised IECC residential policy. Our goal is to maintain all residential energy code information in one document. There are some changes:
This is a new section to clearly list what documents you will need to be prepared to show your inspector, before a Certificate of Occupancy can be released. The only new item in the list is the energy rater inspection verification form for projects that had an energy rater inspect and confirm their air barrier, insulation values, and blower door results.
View all of our building codes and associated policies at denvergov.org/buildingcode.