Where Are We Headed?

 

by Randy Plumlee, SPEER Senior Manager of Building Performance

Texas is growing, and growing fast. New homes, businesses, manufacturing facilities, and data centers are being added across the state at a pace few other states are experiencing. But while Texas continues to grow, one important question remains: Will our energy code grow with us?

Texas’ statewide minimum energy code is still based on the 2015 IECC and the energy provisions of the 2015 IRC, standards that became effective in 2016. Nearly a decade later, the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO) has begun the process of evaluating the 2024 IECC and 2024 IRC energy provisions for possible adoption.

That gives Texas an important opportunity. Moving to the 2024 energy code isn’t simply about requiring more insulation, better windows, tighter buildings, or more efficient mechanical systems. It is about recognizing that the cheapest kilowatt-hour is often the one we never have to produce, transmit, or purchase.

 

The Cost of Doing Nothing

Electricity isn’t likely to become less important, or less valuable, to Texans. Texas is experiencing tremendous growth in electrical demand. ERCOT’s long-term planning shows extraordinary potential increases in system load as population growth, manufacturing, electrification, and large-load customers reshape the grid.

Data centers are an especially important part of that conversation. Texas has become one of the nation’s most attractive locations for new data center development, and AI is accelerating electricity demand nationally. The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects U.S. electricity consumption to reach record levels in both 2026 and 2027, with AI-intensive data centers contributing to that growth. That doesn’t mean data centers are the problem. They represent investment, jobs, innovation, and economic development for Texas. But they do change the equation.

When millions of square feet of new homes and commercial buildings are constructed alongside rapidly growing industrial and data-center loads, efficiency becomes a grid resource. Every new building constructed today will likely be consuming energy for decades. Building it efficiently from the beginning is far easier and less expensive than trying to retrofit that building later.

 

What If Texas Doesn’t Move Forward?

If Texas remains on the 2015 energy code, we risk creating an increasingly uneven landscape. Some cities will continue voluntarily adopting newer energy codes. Others will remain at the statewide minimum. Builders working across multiple jurisdictions will encounter different requirements, enforcement practices, testing standards, and compliance expectations.

Texas could eventually find itself constructing some of the newest communities, manufacturing facilities, and technology infrastructure in America while relying on a statewide energy code developed more than a decade earlier.

There is also another possibility. The next Texas legislative session could bring legislation that affects how, or whether, the state advances its energy code. Energy codes can easily become part of larger debates about construction costs, housing affordability, local control, and regulation.

Those conversations are important. First-costs matter. But so do 30 years of utility bills. We shouldn’t evaluate a home only by what it costs to build on Day One. We should also consider what it costs the homeowner to operate on Day 1,000, or even Day 10,000.

 

This Is Texas’ Opportunity

The discussion about the 2024 IECC shouldn’t be framed as builders versus energy efficiency or regulation versus affordability. It should be about determining how Texas accommodates enormous growth while using its energy resources wisely.

Texas has always been an energy state. We produce it. We move it. We sell it. And increasingly, we’re going to need more of it. Conservation belongs in that equation too. The price of a kilowatt-hour isn’t something we should assume will simply go down as demand increases. That makes the efficiency of every new home and building we construct increasingly important.

The question isn’t whether Texas will continue to grow. It will. The question is whether the buildings we construct during that growth will be prepared for the energy demands of the next 20, 30, or 50 years.

Where are we headed? Hopefully, forward.