Building codes for power-to-heat solutions

Overview of the status and impact of the innovation

Innovation

What

Building codes are regulations that govern the design, construction and modification of commercial buildings and homes. As such, they represent powerful tools for accelerating electrification and greater energy efficiency in buildings. For example, they can set minimum efficiency standards for the building envelope; for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems; for lighting; and for water heating systems (Rosenberg et al., 2015). They can also support the connection of buildings into DHC networks.

Why

Most building codes do not include standards requiring greater electrification and energy efficiency, and so do not encourage the roll-out of power-to-heat options. Revising building codes, therefore, can accelerate the energy transition while also reducing energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions, increasing comfort and energy system flexibility, and enabling larger shares of renewables. They also offer frameworks for comparing energy supply alternatives.

BOX 6.14 First building codes requiring heat pumps approved in California

The California Energy Commission voted in 2021 to approve the first building code in the United States requiring heat pumps for either space heating or water heating in most new homes and other buildings (unless these could meet strict energy efficiency requirements in other ways). Greater use of heat pumps will increase resilience in the face of climate-fuelled heat waves, while also reducing the strain imposed on the grid by inefficient air-conditioning systems. Greater use of heat pumps will increase resilience in the face of climate-fuelled heat waves, while also reducing the strain imposed on the grid by inefficient air-conditioning systems (NRDC, 2021).

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Power to heat and cooling innovations

Innovations (35)