The Executive Order issued by North Carolina Governor Cooper (Page 46, section 20.10) reducing the duct insulation requirement in unconditioned spaces from R-8 to R-4.2 in the North Carolina Building code is now live for savings impacts on Program homes. Homes with R-4.2 duct insulation have been eligible for RNC Program submissions in Ekotrope since March, but the savings calculations are now live to set the North Carolina reference home to R-4.2, from R-8. When using the Ekotrope Quick Analysis pane and Ekotrope Projected Reports there is an option for Permitted after 1/1/2022 which will show the updated energy savings as a result of this change.
If the temporary order expires, the RNC Program will default back to the North Carolina building code for duct insulation requirements.
Due to the complexity of calculations determining whether homes qualify for incentives in the RNC Program, participating builders should check with their Home Energy Raters when making specification changes to homes to ensure they still qualify in the Program, and to determine incentive impacts.