Every three years, local governments and industry officials from across the United States come together to update the model building codes used in all 50 states ― adding requirements for some insulation here, or new windows there, to cut back on how much energy it takes to keep a new house lit and warm.
By law, federal agencies are supposed to swiftly assess those new codes and, as long as they really do save energy, make meeting them a requirement for obtaining a government-backed loan to purchase a new house. Since a sixth of all new homes are financed with loans from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Federal Housing Administration or from the Department of Agriculture, real estate developers who want to sell what they build have a strong incentive to make sure their houses meet the criteria for federal financing. Yet in apparent violation of the law, the federal standards haven’t been updated in years, and remain at 2009 levels.
In May, the Biden…