Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine January 2024

HVACR NewsMagazine January 2024

Link to Proposed Energy Code

• When the final version is set, the Energy Office will submit it to the Department of Energy. • The DOE will accept or make changes. If they make changes, it will ride the merry-go- round back to the Governor’s office. • Eventually, a plan that is satisfactory to all parties will be rolled out. The Energy Office’s last optimistic projection was the 2 nd quarter of 2025. Can you say, “ Wow! ” Now this is from those that know so if others have a different version, I’d sure like to know where they are getting their information. Well, it’s a lot of money with a lot of stakeholders and we should expect at long timeline. New Energy Code: As I recall, Arkansas has been working on adopting a new Energy Code since about 2019 — I think. I know that I have emails dating that far back. So, in a couple of months it will be 4 years. Funny since a code cycle is usually 3 years and we are still operating on the 2014 Arkansas Energy Code. That code was adopted with amendments in 2014 and implemented in 2015. I remember it well. Along with representatives of the Health Department, we traveled the state giving seminars to inform our industry of the changes the new code was making in our lives. Let’s see, that was 9 years ago. It is way passed normal cycles and the Arkansas Energy Office has done its best to get approvals with numerous stakeholder meetings. I thought that it was a done deal about 3 years ago; but, au contraire. You can download and view the proposed version using this link.

You may recall that the Association under the auspices of Energy Arkansas conducted blower door and duct blaster training sessions in anticipation of the new code. On more than one occasion we had to correct our mis-information. Thought it was on but then it was off. Now look, the folks I work with are sincere, hard-working, and dedicated to Arkansas homeowners. They are public servants and I don’t blame them for the delays. What I do know is that somewhere up the ladder folks are concerned about politics or legal hurdles. Whatever the problem, surely the highly educated, dedicated folks can figure this out. My position is, do it or don’t do it but let us know. At this point, we all have too much egg on our face to allow this to continue. I certainly want the guys facilitating the IRA and the Energy Code to know that we in the HVACR industry appreciate their work. We feel their pain. They are good guys; BUT, we need the Energy Office Big Dogs and the Governor to lead. I think they may not be getting necessary information from those of us in the field and from homeowners. We are here and ready to help. OK, we’ve talked about the four big issues facing our industry and homeowners for 2024. While I started off pretty negative, believe I’ll change my focus. I realize that our industry is made up of hard working, resilient, flexible folks. We’ll get up each day and do our best. What else could anyone ask for. After all, w e can’t make