This post is a collaboration between two of our High Performance Buildings & Communities program staff, Darren Port and Christina Rohrbacher.

From the invention of the electrostatic generator (1747) to the discovery of oil (1856), Pennsylvania has a long list of firsts in the realm of energy. Now for the first time in nearly a decade, PA is ringing in the advent of a new statewide energy code.

Recently the Pennsylvania state legislature passed HB 409, which updates Pennsylvania's broken code adoption process. Unfortunately, the new process is still less than ideal to adopt codes that are the bare legal minimum with which a designer or builder need to comply.

School is out and so is the legislature! The sun is shining bright and some states’ legislatures are winding down for the season. A noticeable trend that has developed this session is the passage of bills related to energy storage. Summer is a great time for energy storage because all of the captured energy can be used to help meet summer peak demand. Let’s take a closer look at this trend.