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Date: 9/12/2023
NORTHAMPTON — In a unanimous vote, the City Council approved an order to adopt the Massachusetts Municipal Opt-in Specialized Stretch Energy Code during their Sept. 8 meeting.
The new code, which will only apply to new construction and major renovations in Northampton, aims to achieve net-zero buildings by cutting greenhouse gas emissions and using all-electric.
The opt-in code is not carbon neutral, but it helps municipalities reach their carbon goals more efficiently through energy efficiency, reduced heating loads and efficient electrification.
In an interview with Reminder Publishing back in the summer, Adele Franks, a member of the activist organization Climate Action Now, said that this new opt-in specialized stretch code will lower the HERS rating of a building or Home Energy Rating System.
“The lower the HERS rating, the more energy efficient a home is,” Franks said.
Mass.gov states that the current phased-in stretch code provides a HERS rating of 52/55, while the new opt-in specialized stretch code would require a HERS rating of 45 for all-electric buildings.
Under the opt-in specialized stretch code, the use of fossil fuels such as gas, propane and biomass is still permitted in new construction, but additional requirements must be followed for on-site solar generation and pre-wiring for future electrification of any fossil fuel equipment.
According to Franks, if fossil fuels are used under the opt-in specialized code, the building would also be required to have an even lower HERS rating than a building using all-electric.
“All electric construction would have to meet a HERS rating of 45,” Franks said, of the opt-in code. “It would have to be an even lower rating of 42 for buildings that use fossil fuel combustion for heating.”
Currently, there are three different building energy codes that municipalities in the state can adopt: the base code, the stretch code and the opt-in specialized stretch code. According to Franks, there are close to 300 municipalities in Massachusetts that are considered “green communities,” including Northampton.
Under the law, these communities are already required to follow the state’s updated stretch code, where there are more energy-efficient requirements for residential and commercial buildings than under the base code.
However, by adopting the opt-in specialized stretch code, Northampton would embrace even more aggressive energy-efficient coding.
Developers during past meetings expressed concern that the new codes would increase building costs across the state, but Ward 7 City Councilor Rachel Maiore asserted that pre-electrifying new construction now would lead to greater savings in the future.
“I think it’s one of those things that’s keeping with our climate goals and Climate Regeneration Plan,” said City Councilor Rachel Maiore, of the opt-in specialized stretch code. “If we pre-electrify these buildings now, we won’t have to retrofit them. So, there’s savings there; there’s a vision there, and I think it will be easier down the road.”
City Council meeting
During public comment, Franks clarified that the new code only applies to new construction and major renovations.
“It has absolutely nothing to do with furnace or water heater replacement,” Franks said.
Maiore, Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra and Councilor Alex Jarrett were all sponsors for this new code, which will officially go into effect in January.
“The writing is on the wall; this has to happen,” Maiore said of the new code. “This is keeping with our values here in Northampton.”
Sciarra, meanwhile, expressed a similar desire for these new codes during the Sept. 8 council meeting.
“We can’t go back in time with a lot of our housing stock and magically put in this infrastructure, but we can control what we’re building right now,” Sciarra said. “It’s incredibly important that we…prepare [new buildings] for the direction that we know that we need to move in.”
Many other councilors offered their support, as well, including council Vice President Karen Foster, who showed gratitude toward the sponsors of the order as well as the community activists who helped push this through.
“We are in a climate emergency, and we need to be taking every step that we can to move forward and this is one logical step,” Foster said.