A Thurston County judge on Friday dismissed a lawsuit that sought to force the state Building Code Council to move faster in aligning energy rules for new construction with provisions in the natural gas initiative Washington voters approved in November.
But Superior Court Judge John Skinder said he hoped the legal effort launched by the Building Industry Association of Washington “does put the council on notice.”
“This type of action, it does have a purpose,” Skinder said as he granted the state’s motion to toss the case.
The Building Industry Association of Washington spearheaded the effort to pass Initiative 2066, which became law Dec. 5. It amends and repeals regulations and laws intended to move the state away from natural gas and toward technology like electric heat pumps in new construction.
Among its targets are revisions to the residential and commercial building energy codes that took effect in March 2024. Those rules, which offer builders permitting incentives for choosing electric heat pumps instead of natural gas furnaces, are unenforceable, the group says.
Following November’s election, the homebuilding association pressed the Building Code Council to erase the rules. Council members declined. Instead, they opted to have their technical experts review those rules and initiative language and recommend any changes needed to bring everything into alignment.
The builder group sued in December to force the council to act faster than the timetable set out in its mid-November meeting. They argued for emergency rulemaking to resolve conflicts between the new law and the rules.
On Friday, July Simpson, an assistant attorney general representing the Building Code Council, said the association was seeking a way around the process with its complaint.
Sydney Phillips, representing BIAW, disagreed. She said association members sought clarity on a “consequential” issue — which codes are enforceable and which are not — to ensure they are in compliance. While the court could direct the council to undertake emergency rulemaking, it wasn’t a specific request of the association, she said.
Following Skinder’s ruling, a BIAW official said a new complaint would be filed against the Building Code Council in the coming days contending its actions violated a state law known as the Administrative Procedures Act.
A second fight continues
Meanwhile, a lawsuit to invalidate the entire voter-approved initiative is proceeding in King County Superior Court.
Opponents sued in December, contending Initiative 2066 is unconstitutional because it runs afoul of a provision limiting citizen initiatives to no more than one subject and requiring them to contain the full text of the portion of state laws they would alter.
A judge will consider the arguments in a March 21 hearing.
Plaintiffs in this lawsuit include Climate Solutions, Washington Conservation Action, Front and Centered, King County and the city of Seattle. Washington is the sole defendant.
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Let the courts rule on the legality of the initiative and then if the initiative is still viable they can sue to change the code. Considering all their lies about banning gas , which was not true, the builders should just be made to wait for the courts to rule. Heat pumps would actually save new homeowners money over gas and the cheapest and easiest time to install them is in new construction. Motivating builders to help new homeowners save on energy costs is always good. And heat pumps now can work down to -15 F so there is no reason not to install them here in Washington. Mine works wonderfully in the cold. Plus the rules still allow for gas if the builder really wants it.
Good points, Arlene.
Given the lawsuits and the valid questions about the legality of the initiative itself, it is prudent for the Building Code Council to proceed carefully. This dispute leads into bigger issues , for example, does it make sense to build out more gas lines in new subdivisions? In the near future, those gas lines may become stranded assets and homeowners with gas may be left behind to face rapidly rising energy, air quality and health costs.
Arlene, stating that heat pumps now work to -15 degrees F is misleading or possibly incorrect. Can you or Nick Maxwell provide the installation cost of a 4 ton heat pump and temperature point at which the electrical cost exceeds that cost of natural gas? My new heat pump at $11,000 installed cost cuts over to gas at 35 F. I am happy with the heat pump, but I have no illusions that it will ever pay for itself in energy costs, even though it is being fed by solar panels.
My Mitsubishi is rated to -15 F . It doesn’t need a heat strip. It works fine in the cold.
Also new construction is the best time and the cheapest to install heat pumps. This what the new building codes encourages but the builders want to stop that for some strange reason. Burning fuel for heat as in gas furnaces is so inefficient. Heat pumps just transfer heat like in your frig. It is so efficient. Heat pumps will just keep getting better and better.
The Misubishi sales info I found refers to -15 C, which is 5 F. I would be interested in seeing the efficiency curve provided with your Mitsubishi as I could not find an engineering based table or curve on the internet or through Mitsubishi.
The coefficient of performance of greater than 1.0 (regarded as 100% efficient) is relative to standard electric heating, which is much higher in cost than a gas furnace. There is an outside temperature point at which using natural gas is less expensive than running the heat pump, which is why most heat pumps change over at 35 F if that option is available. Puget Sound seldom sees that low temperature, but that is not the case at high elevations in our state.
I agree that new construction is the time to install a heat pump. A modestly sized heat pump with a gas furnace to take over in cold weather when the heat pump efficiency falls is the most sensible option in the cold parts of the state. I use a heat pump myself, but it is presumptive for us to take away the back-up option of gas in the cold parts of the state. How would a resident prevent frozen pipes when the power fails?
Who is taking away any backup option of gas? That has nothing to do with this building code. PSE itself has affirmed they still have to install gas if the customer requests it. And most gas furnaces need electricity to function so they can lose power too and not work in an outage. My heat pump is 100 percent efficient down to -5F and still provides heat even down to -15F. Since my previous home had three gas leaks, I no longer trust having gas in my house. It is gone. PSE removed it for free.
My comment about taking away gas as a back-up was not referring to the bill, but to another person’s comment in this string suggesting not building out gas lines. Sorry for that.
The Mitsubishi Hyper Heat does seem like an excellent unit. It is frustrating that I (and other internet users) cannot pull up any COP curves for it, but it must be fairly good since it is sold in Canada. Based on my Edmonds PSE and PUD bills, the variable cost of electricity is 2.12 times the cost of gas used in a 95% efficient furnace. So when the temperature drops and a unit’s COP crosses 2.12, electricity is more expensive. Note that “100% efficient” is relative to straight electric heat (not gas) – a unit in Edmonds needs to be 212% efficient to be cheaper than gas when temperatures drop. Fortunately for both of us heat pump users, the temperature seldom drops into an inefficient range in Edmonds.
I’d like Nick Maxwell to comment my initial question – how well do heat pumps work at -15 F?
Alternatively, you could get 4 window units for about $7,000.
https://factorypure.com/products/soleus-air-ws5-12hw-301-12000-btu-115v-saddle-window-air-conditioner-heater-wifi-new?variant=43791501885629
Those run on 120 volts, but running 4 of them at the same time might blow fuses. You might still want to hire an electrician.
As Niall points out, much heating (and cooling) you need depends on how much weatherizing you have. If you live in a 3,000 square foot tent, like a circus tent, you’ll need way more than 4 tons. If you have passive-house weatherization, you might do fine with 1 ton.
https://www.bobvila.com/articles/passive-house-design/
$5,000 to $10,000 is a bigger deal if you are not already replacing a worn out gas furnace, or putting new heating into new construction. It helps if it’s rolled into your mortgage.
Nick, the answer to your question depends on how well the structure being heated is insulated. I converted from electric heat to a heat pump almost a year ago and I am recognizing significant savings as a result. However, below about 35F the backup heat strips kick in. My house was built in 1984 and is relatively well insulated but the windows in particular are not at modern standards for insulation and the heat loss through the windows raises the balance point for the house. If/when I replace the windows with more efficient modern windows, the balance point will drop and I will become less dependent on those backup heat strips. Of course, I’m not going to replace the windows before I need to do that.
The lowest temperature ever recorded in the Puget Sound area was zero degrees on January 31st, 1950. Since then, our winters have gotten warmer. Now our coldest temperatures are about 5 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
A heat pump that works well down to 5 degrees will be fine for almost every day of the winter.
Partly because many people heat their homes with natural gas, and mostly because people drive gasoline cars, the polar vortex has been falling apart and wobbling arctic air as far south as Texas and Florida. We could see zero degrees here again or lower.
Recent heat pumps like the Bosch IDS Ultra, MRCool DIY 4th gen, and Carrier Infinity continue heating down to -13 Fahrenheit.
https://www.achrnews.com/articles/164020-cold-climate-heat-pumps-up-to-the-challenge
I recommend a couple high-quality and high safety electric space heaters for back up. These will cost about $150 each. You want high-quality manufacturing. (Don’t add to Edmonds fire department expenses, please.)
For 4 tons, you could get two MRCool 2-ton units for $5,000
https://mrcooldirect.com/search?type=product%2Cpage%2Carticle&options%5Bprefix%5D=last&q=DIY+24k+BTU
https://portal.mrcool.com/blog/4th-gen-diy-ductless-mini-split/
You would need to spend another $2,000 on electrical work to provide 240 volts to each compressor.
If you hire someone else to do the work, they would need at least another $1,000 for their labor and parts, and then more for profits.