OREGON
CURRENT CODE
Residential:
2008 Oregon Residential
Specialty Code (Mandatory)
Commercial:
2007 Oregon Structural
Specialty Code (Mandatory)
DEMOGRAPHICS
Population: 3,790,060
Total Housing Units:
1,495,582
ENERGY
CONSUMPTION
Residential Sector:
270.1 Trillion BTU
Commercial Sector:
209.2 Trillion BTU
35% of natural gas and 49%
of the electricity supply in
Oregon is consumed to heat
residential homes.
Residential use of natural
gas costs $14.86/thousand
cubic ft.
Hydroelectric power ac-
counts for more than one
half of Oregon’s electricity
generation.
CODE CHANGE CYCLE
Three year code review
BCAP 1850 M St. NW Suite 600 | Oregon, DC 20036 | www.bcap-energy.org
Oregon will receive $42.1 Million from the federal gov-
ernment 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:
 7.6 trillion Btu of energy
 441 thousand metric tons of CO2 (Equivalent to the
annual emissions of 80,769 passenger vehicles)
 $49 million.
 $49 million could pay more than the full un-
dergraduate tuition for current students at
private universities in Oregon
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 re-
ceive SEP grants, state governors must certify to DOE that their state will imple-
ment 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: Changes to the energy conservation requirements are sub-
mitted on code change forms to the Oregon Building Codes Division (BCD).
The Residential Structures Board reviews proposed changes that are applicable
to residential code. The Building Codes Structures Board reviews changes that
are applicable to the structures code. The BCD administrator, under delegated
authority from the Director of the Department of Consumer and Business Ser-
vices, makes a final determination about acceptance of the proposal. Once the
administrator accepts a proposal, rulemaking begins.
For more information please consult the Building Codes Assistance Project (www.bcap-energy.org)
or Nick Zigelbaum (nzigelbaum@nrdc.org)
BCAP