City adopts voluntary energy conservation standard

Martin Kidston

(Missoula Current) Citing Missoula's appetite to pursue a clean energy future, members of the City Council on Wednesday adopted a new energy conservation standard, setting out best practices in pursuit of a greener future.

Devin Filicchia, a transportation planner with the city, said the standard is strictly voluntary and stops short of becoming code. The latter isn't permitted under state law, though the new program could come with incentives down the road.

“We're envisioning this as an educational tool,” said Filicchia. “This doesn't create any new regulatory requirements.”

The city recently received an Energy Efficient and Conservation Block Grant and, as part of that application, it included a measure to adopt a “voluntary energy stretch code” that encourages electrification and energy efficient buildings.

Local governments in Montana lack the power to mandate such requirements.

“We took a close look to avoid any language that conflicts with state preemption,” said Fillichia. “We're calling it a standard and not a code. We're not implementing anything like that as a requirement any time soon.”

State law denies municipalities the power to “prohibit or impeded the connection or re-connection of an electric, natural gas, propane, or other energy utility service” provided by a public utility.

It also denies local government the power to require that new buildings include solar panels or other equipment for solar and electric vehicles. While such laws limit local government's ability to pursue a cleaner energy future, Fillichia said a voluntary program could be successful.

“The standard has a voluntary reference code that identifies best practices to reduce energy or operating costs,” he said. “This is not a regulatory requirement or code amendment. It's not reviewed or enforced by inspectors. It's not a substitute for existing codes or permits.”

The new standard acknowledges that Missoula values buildings that are efficient, resilient and designed for a clean energy future. It also prioritizes all electric construction to reduce fossil fuels and other building emissions over time as the electric grid becomes cleaner.

“Often our focus on City Council is making our city buildings super efficient and climate ready,” said council member Gwen Jones. “But I think there's a huge appetite culturally in this town for the private sector to be working in this arena. Any tools we can give to help facilitate that are needed and appreciated.”

The new voluntary energy conservation standard passed the City Council's Climate, Conservation and Parks Committee on a unanimous voice vote.

“I think the education component of this is really great,” said council member Betsy Craske. “It encourages folks across the city to try and reach that higher level of energy conservation and building standards.”