1201 15th Street NW 

Washington, DC 20005 

T 800 368 5242 

F 202 266 8258 

nahb.org

Government Affairs

Jim Tobin 

Senior vice President & Chief Lobbyist

MEMO

To: U.S. Department of Energy 

From: Jim Tobin, Senior Vice President 

National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) 

Date: September 30, 2013 

Subject: Ex Parte Memorandum 

On September 24th representatives from the National Association of Home 

Builders (NAHB) met with David Danielson, Assistant Secretary for Energy 

Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the Department of Energy (DOE), and 

other DOE staff to discuss proposals for the 2015 International Energy 

Conservation Code (IECC). Attendees at the meeting included: 

NAHB:

Jim Tobin (NAHB) 

Susan Asmus (NAHB) 

Billie Kaumaya (NAHB) 

Craig Drumheller (NAHB) 

Clayton Traylor (Leading Builders of America) 

Department of Energy (DOE):

David Danielson 

Kathleen Hogan 

Kym Carey 

Jeremy Williams 

Kavita Vaidyanathan 

Daniel Cohen 

Jason Walsh 

DOE Policy Announcement (Re: Code Development)

NAHB began the meeting with a discussion about DOE’s April 19 Federal 

Register announcement (78 Fed. Reg. 23550 (April 19, 2013)), clarifying its 

role in code development. NAHB commended the Department for their 

commitment to increasing transparency. NAHB believes, however, that the 

policy was unclear regarding how DOE intends to exercise their right to vote 

during the 2015 IECC final action hearings in October. NAHB believes that 

DOE representatives should only vote on those proposals that were subject to 

public review and comment, and were published as final proposals on the 

DOE EnergyCodes.gov website. These are the proposals that have received 
September 30, 2013 

Page 2 

proper vetting, ensuring that all stakeholders have had the opportunity to weigh in. 

In response, Dr. Kathleen Hogan indicated that DOE representatives would only vote on 

those proposals for which technical analyses had be conducted, including only the 

analyses that had already been posted to the DOE EnergyCodes.gov website. She 

added that DOE representatives would refrain from voting on all other proposals, noting 

that there would be no surprises regarding how DOE intended to vote. 

Prescriptive vs. Performance Path

NAHB presented research showing that the 2012 IECC Prescriptive path was not cost 

optimized. NAHB presented a graph (attached) indicating that an unrestricted 

Performance path could reduce construction cost by roughly $3,000, while maintaining 

the same level of energy efficiency. 

Energy Neutral Tradeoffs

NAHB expressed its support for energy neutral tradeoffs to give more flexibility to the 

builder, and ultimately the home owner. NAHB believes that the most important 

proposals that will be heard at the ICC Public Comment Hearings in October are RE166 Equipment Tradeoffs, RE-72 Building Tightness Tradeoffs, RE-116 Duct Tightness 

Testing. These proposals allow builders to construct an equally efficient home at a lower 

cost. 

Energy Efficiency Financing

NAHB representatives discussed the major barriers to increased energy efficiency in 

housing, the first being cost and the second being the lack of financing options. NAHB 

reported on the SAVE Act, a bill currently being considered in Congress that could help 

address the 2nd barrier by allowing lenders to account for energy savings in mortgages. 

NAHB noted that this bill, unfortunately has a score attached that needs to be offset with 

mandatory spending cuts. NAHB and DOE agreed to continue to work on this issue. 

Submitted by: 

Jim Tobin 

Senior Vice President 

National Association of Home Builders 

1201 15th St., NW 

Washington, DC 20005 

jtobin@nahb.org
September 30, 2013 

Page 3 

$2,200$2,300$2,400$2,500$2,600$2,700$2,800$2,900$3,000

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Annual Energy+ Mortgage$

% Energy Savings

AnnualEnergy and IncrementalMortgage Cost vs. % Energy Savings

NationalWeighted Average

Prescriptive Path Optimized w/o HE Equipment Optimized w/HE Equipment

2009 IECC

2006 IECC

2012 IECC

% Savings = 2006 IECC Energy $ ‐ Reference Energy $

2006 IECC Heating, Cooling&Water Heating $

$250/yrsavings at

the same efficiency