Oregon approves new building codes
New building code changes are coming to Oregon specifying the use of heat pumps instead of ducted air conditioning. The Oregon Building Code Division’s Residential and Manufactured Structures Board (RMSB) voted to approve a package of updates to the state’s residential energy code on Feb. 18, 2026.
This comes as states like California aim to modernize heat pump permitting. As well as cities such as Boston and New York City also increase their investment in heat pumps.
According to the meeting’s notes, the code language will clarify that in new dwellings where split-system air-conditioning is installed, the outdoor condensing unit and indoor evaporator coil shall have heat pump operation that provides both heating and cooling. “Heat pump operation for heating shall be first stage heating. The heat source sized for the dwelling design-day heating load provides heating where first stage heating cannot maintain the minimum required space temperature.”
The date that this new building code goes into effect is not clarified. However over 54 building professionals, elected officials and climate organizations sent a letter of support for the new codes.
“The code update is an upgrade in both comfort and affordability. The increased energy savings for new construction will benefit every Oregonian who moves into one of these new homes for years to come,” said Talent City Council President Eleanor Ponomareff. “Our building codes are about the future we want and how we prepare for more extreme weather. This code improvement will help us both be safer and more resilient, and reduce pollution by relying more on clean sources of heat and cutting down energy waste.”
