“The trend is your friend.” -Mark Zweig

With Texas as the leading state in new home starts, we can expect some housing trends first to arise there.

• Why was House Bill 3215 developed and enacted in Texas?
• What entities and organizations participated in developing the language in the bill?
• How will this impact the HERS industry in Texas and elsewhere?

Joining RESTalk on this podcast is Ned Munoz, V.P. of Regulatory Affairs and General Counsel at Texas Association of Builders, and James Rodriguez, Executive Vice President at Fox Energy Specialists.

James shares the desire to set up a hybrid approach- that is, to introduce a second universal pathway of state energy compliance that is performance-based.

This means Texas now recognizes the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index scores as a standalone compliance pathway which untangles it from the current ICC/IRC versions of the energy rating index (ERI) pathway.

Ned explains how the Texas Association of Builders recognizes the impact that mandated energy codes have on housing affordability while still encouraging energy-efficient home building and how these concepts influenced the wording of the bill.

It’s important to note that the State of Texas overlay energy code for single-family new construction was not updated or changed by the bill.

Below are the HERS Index pathway thresholds remaining in effect for 10 years.

TIMELINE Climate Zone 2 HERS Index Climate Zone 3 HERS Index

09/1/19 to 08/31/22 63 63

09/1/22 to 08/31/25 59 59

09/1/25 to 08/31/28 57 57

09/1/28 to 09/01/31 55 55

Note: 2018 IECC mandatory items and building envelope thresholds must be upheld as part of these HERS scores.