Item 5- Green Building Draft Recommendation — original pdf

Backup

Resource Management Commission Austin Energy Green Building Resolution WHEREAS, Austin Energy Green Building updates its standards for single family and multifamily buildings every three years, and WHEREAS, all-electric resistance water heaters are profoundly inefficient, expensive for consumers to operate, drive up electric utility peak demand, and increase air pollution and carbon emissions; and WHEREAS, many of these Residential customers do not have a choice about installing more efficient heat pump water heaters because they live in rented single-family homes and multifamily units; and WHEREAS, most customers who reside in rented units are likely to be in the lower half of income levels and therefore less able to pay high electric bills; and WHEREAS, 60% or more of the energy costs for all-electric resistance water heating can be saved by use of heat pump water heaters and solar water heaters; THEN BE IT RESOLVED that the Resource Management Commission advises the Austin City Council to require heat pump water heaters in single-fuel single family and multifamily units as a requirement for participation in the updated 2026 version of Austin Energy Green Building.