In efforts to improve climate resilience, Oregon is adopting new building codes to help residents save money and increase energy efficiency.
The Oregon Building Code Division’s Residential and Manufactured Structures Board (RMSB) approved updates to its policy in response to residents’ rising energy costs over the past six years. Oregon residents and businesses are now estimated to pay approximately 50% more on energy compared to 2020. Now, with the new codes in place, heat pumps will be mandated for inclusion in new construction.
The heat pumps will handle both heating and cooling in buildings using split-system air conditioning. The setup allows other fuel sources to provide supplementary and back-up heat, aligning with the state’s sustainability and energy ambitions. According to the Building Code Division, residents will save more than $1,700 per year on energy bills – approximately $125 per month on average.
The update catalyzes state goals to adopt and utilize mandatory heat pump technologies, ideally installing at least 500,000 new heat pumps in residential or commercial buildings by 2030. The same technologies will also contribute to the state’s efforts to decarbonize the energy sector and address climate change, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption in new residential or commercial buildings by 60%.
Bundled together, these changes signal a significant win in the Oregon Department of Energy’s (ODOE) State Energy Strategy. Published in November 2025, the document outlined five strategies needed to achieve the state’s energy policy objectives as Oregon moves toward phasing out fossil fuels for clean energy alternatives. Of those five pathways, two directly relate to the heat pump ordinance:
- Pathway 1 – Energy Efficiency: advance energy efficiency across buildings, industry and transportation sectors.
- Pathway 3 – Electrification: increase electrification of end uses across transportation, buildings and industry while safeguarding reliability, promoting affordability and maximizing opportunities to use load flexibility as a resource.
Photo by Pixabay
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