PHRC Events
Public Comment Period Open for 2025 PA Alternative Residential Energy Provisions
Date: 1/23/2025
Based on the outcome of the PA Uniform Construction Code
(UCC) Review & Advisory Council (RAC) review process of the 2021 I-Codes,
the PA Alternative Residential Energy Provisions (PA-Alt) will
be updated to reflect the changes to the UCC that will become effective early in the
third quarter of 2025. A subcommittee of the PHRC Industry Advisory Council
will be directing this process and will take into account public comments. The
submission form linked below provides a method to convey comments on the
content of the PA-Alt. Each individual comment should be submitted
separately. Multiple submissions are required for more than one comment. The submission form will be available until February 12, 2025, at 5:00 PM ET. Any questions about this process can be directed to Chris Hine, associate director of the PHRC, at chine@psu.edu, 814-863-2366. In November 1999, the Pennsylvania Legislature passed Act 45, known as the Uniform Construction Code (UCC), into law mandating a statewide building code across Pennsylvania. Act 45 requires the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) to promulgate regulations to implement the requirements of the legislation and, in addition, to consider the development of alternative prescriptive methods for energy conservation that account for the various climatic regions within the Commonwealth. In deriving these energy standards, the DLI was to seek to balance energy savings with initial construction costs. The PA-Alt is developed with the intent of being: simpler to build and easier to enforce; more rational and flexible; focused on Pennsylvania in terms of climatic and other conditions; and, equivalent to the provisions of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) in terms of energy efficiency as adopted in the PA UCC. For reference, view the current version, the 2021 PA-Alt. This compliance path allows for some modifications in energy
efficiency or trade-offs. To provide for equivalent performance, the building
owner or agent must choose one of the energy enhancement options as an entrance
requirement for this path.Background Information
Why was this created?
What is the PA-Alt?
How does the PA-Alt work?