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Texas Senate Bill 5 Legislation for Reducing Pollution in Non-Attainment and Affected Areas: An Overview of Legislative Responsibilities, Code Compliance Issues and Accomplishments
Abstract
The 77th Texas Legislature, in 2001,
established Senate Bill 5, SB-5, which addressed
NOx emission reductions by establishing
programs to reduce vehicle emissions and
reductions due to energy efficiency and the use
of renewable energy sources. The 78th Texas
Legislature further expanded SB-5 into code
certification for code officials and above code
programs.
Using data available from the Texas
Commission on Environmental Quality, TCEQ,
the EPA and new procedures developed by the
Laboratory, the annual energy savings calculated
in 2003 from energy-code compliant new
residential construction in non-attainment and
affected counties were 252,238 megawatt hours
of electricity and 887,564 million Btu of natural
gas. The resultant annual NOx reductions were
473 tons. On a peak summer day in 2003, the
NOx emissions were 2.44 tons.
SB-5 recognized Energy Efficiency /
Renewable Energy, EE/RE, as a valid method to
reduce emissions. The Energy Systems
Laboratory was made responsible for achieving
the following goals.
1. Quantify the NOx reductions from EE/RE by
county.
2. Assist cities and counties determine the impact
of code amendments that they planned to adopt.
3. Conduct training on the IRC / IECC, including
ASHRAE 90.1.
4. Set up a certification program for code
officials.
5. Assist cities and counties to achieve above
code performance.
6. Translate the EE/RE savings into EPA
acceptable emissions reductions which can be
applied to the State Implementation Plan, SIP.
Citation
Culp, C.; Haberl, J. S.; Yazdani, B.; Fitzpatrick, T.; Bryant, J. A.; Turner, W. D. (2004). Texas Senate Bill 5 Legislation for Reducing Pollution in Non-Attainment and Affected Areas: An Overview of Legislative Responsibilities, Code Compliance Issues and Accomplishments. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu); Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /4613.