Alliance Assists Oklahoma City in Updating Building Energy Codes for New Homes

The Alliance is targeting rapidly expanding cities, which erect new buildings at a faster rate than the rest of the country, for advancements in energy-efficient building codes. Oklahoma City is one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the United States, so the Alliance's Building Codes Assistance Project (BCAP) is working with Oklahoma City to update its residential building energy code  – and BCAP expects the rest of the state to follow suit.

BCAP Meets with Government Officials, Building Leaders

In early October, members of the BCAP team traveled to Oklahoma City to support municipal leaders as they update city and state building energy codes. BCAP Program Manager Brian Sernulka and Program Associate Paul Karrer met with a wide spectrum of building community stakeholders to discuss the state capital's pivotal role in advancing building energy efficiency, noting that surrounding communities look to Oklahoma City as a model for decisions on policy.

To help ensure that Oklahoma City and its state build more energy-efficient homes, Sernulka and Karrer met with staffers from the Oklahoma City Office of Sustainability and members of the Oklahoma Sustainability Network. The hosts explained the unique political and economic issues within their city and metropolitan housing markets. Given these issues, the BCAP and Oklahoma City representatives discussed prospects for the wide implementation of an updated energy code for new home construction and major renovations.

Big City Governments Pave the Way for Local Leaders

Like other fast-growing cities across the nation, Oklahoma City's population has expanded by almost 11 percent this decade. As the largest city in its state and the 31^st largest city in America, Oklahoma City has been particularly affected by economic changes in the home building industry.

Many state and community leaders view rapidly expanding jurisdictions like Oklahoma City as models on many issues. This dynamic is especially strong for home rule states like Oklahoma, where local governments pass laws to govern themselves as they see fit (within the bounds of state and federal constitutions).

BCAP's Sernulka and Karrer testified before the Oklahoma Uniform Building Code Commission to the need for an updated, statewide, residential energy code. Although the newly created Commission is charged with updating the statewide residential energy code, local governments in Oklahoma are not required to adopt or enforce rules that are passed by the Commission and approved by the state legislature. That's why BCAP is working closely with the Commission, as well as other stakeholders in the state capital, to develop policies that ensure efficient homes and serve as a leader for the state as a whole.

Looking Forward to an Improved State Residential Energy Code

The BCAP team will continue to work with policymakers, home builders, environmental advocates and other building code stakeholders as Oklahoma develops an improved state residential energy code in the coming months and legislative debate begins in February. The team also will assist Oklahoma City as it considers its own building energy efficiency policies and strategies to overcome enforcement barriers and improve code compliance.

Learn more about building energy codes and the team's work at BCAP's new website, OCEAN.