The Building Technologies Program is one of the Department of Energy’s most sweeping programs aimed at improving building performance and affordability. It covers everything from standards for appliances and commercial equipment to building energy codes to advances in construction and component technology that are developed through theSolar Decathlonand stimulus-funded research and retrofit initiatives.

It makes sense, then, that the DOE has applied federal stimulus money – and bolstered theBuilding Technologies Program’s code component– to allow free digital distribution of the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code. The International Code Council, the primary source for safety and energy efficiency codes for most states that adopt codes,announced the funding on Thursdayand provided this link to the 2009 IECC download: http://www.iccsafe.org/FreeIECC

Progression toward efficiency

The DOE says the 2009 IECC will produce approximately 15% in residential energy efficiency gains compared to the 2006 edition, whose ancestry can be traced back to the model codes developed after the 1973 energy crisis, although the IECC was first published in 1998.

GBA Advisor Lynn Underwood has produced a nine-part series on various provisions of the 2009 IECC and the International Residential Code that addressair sealing,insulation,lighting,programmable thermostats,insulating mass walls,efficient windows,insulating mechanical pipes,exceeding the energy code, andvapor retarders.