South Carolina State Snapshot

SOUTH CAROLINA CURRENT CODE

Residential: Standard Building Code of the Southern Building Code Congress International Commercial: 2006 IECC (Mandatory) DEMOGRAPHICS Population: 4,479,800 Total Housing Units: 1,825,531 ENERGY CONSUMPTION Residential Sector: 349.1 Trillion BTU Commercial Sector: 256.8 Trillion BTU 58% of the electricity supply in South Carolina is consumed to heat residential homes. Residential use of natural gas costs $16.86/thousand cubic ft.

South Carolina will receive $50.5 Million from the federal government if the state adopts the latest energy codes:  IECC 2009 (International Energy Conservation Code)  ASHRAE 90.1 2007 (American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers) Accumulated residential sector savings, 2009 to 2030, would be:  37.7 trillion Btu of energy  2,630 thousand metric tons of CO2 (Equivalent to the annual emissions of 481,685 passenger vehicles)  $282 million.  $282 million could pay more than the full undergraduate tuition for current students at private universities in South Carolina FINANCING OPPORTUNITIES: In February 2009 the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act allocated $3.1 billion for U.S. Department of Energy’s State Energy Program (SEP) to assist states with building energy efficiency efforts. As one of the requirements to receive SEP grants, state governors must certify to DOE that their state will implement energy codes of equal or greater stringency than the latest national model codes (currently IECC 2009 and Standard 90.1-2007). Thus, it is in the state’s best economic interests to adopt these standards statewide and begin enjoying the benefits of an efficient building sector. CODE ADOPTION AND CHANGE PROCESS:

Regulatory Process: The South Carolina Building Codes Council (BCC) is charged with adopting and amending the statewide building codes. Adoption of Nuclear power accounts for the latest version of the national model codes is done through the publication of a more than one half of South notice of intent in the state register, followed by a comment period and at least one public hearing. A study committee may be convened to consider public feedCarolina’s electricity genback, and once promulgated, the code becomes effective on the first day of Janueration. ary or July, whichever date is sooner but not less than six months from the effecCODE CHANGE CYCLE tive date of the regulation. No set schedule For more information please consult the Building Codes Assistance Project (www.bcap-energy.org) or Nick Zigelbaum ([email protected])

BCAP BCAP 1850 M St. NW Suite 600 | South Carolina, DC 20036 | www.bcap-