Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times,
States that adopt the updated 2024 International Energy Conservation Code could see building costs for a typical single-family home go up by $14,000, the Department of Energy (DOE) warned on June 26.
The International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) is a model code developed by the Washington-based International Code Council (ICC) for setting minimum energy efficiency requirements for commercial and residential buildings.
While the ICC doesn’t mandate its code, states and local jurisdictions can choose to mandate the code in their building standards. The IECC is the most adopted across the United States as it is recognized in federal law as the national model energy code for low-rise residential buildings.
The DOE takes part in the ICC’s consensus process to update energy efficiency provisions of the IECC. The code is revised once every three years.
Regarding the latest IECC codes published in 2024, the DOE has determined that adoption of the code “would increase residential construction costs by more than $9.2 billion annually compared to the 2006 code levels, adding more than $127 billion in cumulative costs nationwide.”
The IECC model regulation forces “American families to pay thousands of dollars more upfront for a new home, while projected energy savings may take decades to materialize. In most states, estimated payback periods exceed 10 years, with some exceeding 20 years—locking American families into decades-long repayment timeframes and restricting consumer choice.”
According to the National Association of Home Builders, the 2024 IECC contains several provisions related to energy efficiency, including heat or energy recovery ventilation systems; installation of energy-efficient appliances such as refrigerators, dishwashers, and clothes washers; and the deployment of renewable energy resources on building sites.
In March 2024, when the 2024 IECC codes were approved by the ICC’s Board of Directors, the ICC said that the new codes were anticipated to improve energy efficiency for commercial buildings by roughly 10 percent, and for residential buildings by around 6.5 percent.
On Feb. 15 this year, the DOE sent a letter to the ICC, raising “serious concerns” about the trajectory of the IECC.
The purpose of IECC is to provide model building codes that can be adopted to provide energy efficiency gains for communities. However, in recent years, IECC has expanded its scope to focus on areas such as energy generation infrastructure requirements and greenhouse gas emissions. This shift risks undermining existing DOE objectives, the letter said.
The department’s priorities for building energy codes involve ensuring affordability for American households and businesses, and safeguarding consumer choice to opt for their preferred appliances and equipment.
The DOE urged the ICC to return its codes to its traditional focus on building energy efficiency that would provide both “clear cost savings and beneficial efficiency advances” to consumers.
In its recent statement, the DOE said it encouraged the ICC to omit requirements related to onsite energy generation and greenhouse gas avoidance, which raise construction costs.
“This analysis shows how unnecessary regulations and ineffective building codes have drastically increased housing costs with little to no benefit for homeowners or communities,” Assistant Secretary of Energy Audrey Robertson said.
“Standard-setting bodies should take note: we prioritize the American homeowner and will not allow erroneous building requirements to push homeownership out of reach.”
The Epoch Times reached out to ICC for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
Ensuring Housing AffordabilityThe DOE said in its recent statement that it would continue implementing President Donald Trump’s March 13 executive order titled “Removing Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Home Construction.”
In the order, Trump wrote that unnecessary regulatory barriers and “onerous mandates” have delayed construction and driven up the cost of new homes, making housing less affordable for Americans.
One of the provisions in the order directed the Secretaries of Energy, Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Agriculture to take “appropriate action to reform and, where appropriate, eliminate unduly burdensome or costly energy-efficiency, water-use, or alternative-energy requirements regarding housing.”
This shall include reviewing and revising residential building energy codes, energy efficiency standards for certain new construction, and energy conservation standards for manufactured housing.
In a March 13 statement, HUD said that regulatory costs make up almost $94,000 in the final price of a new single-family home, with green energy mandates in building codes alone raising construction costs by $30,000.
As such, cutting red tape, including “onerous” energy and water requirements and “woke” green building codes, will boost housing stock and bring down the cost of newly built homes, the department said.
In April, HUD and the Department of Agriculture rescinded a policy related to energy standards, which HUD said would have pushed home construction costs by $20,000 to $31,000.
Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 18:25Readers have been well ahead of both the federal government and the mainstream news cycle in asking whether there is a "Cuba connection" behind the radicalization of the Democratic Party and its aligned billionaire-funded nonprofit universe.
What was once dismissed as speculation is now beginning to look more like a foreign influence operation, one tied to an alarming rise of anti-American socialist networks that openly seek to dismantle capitalism and the American way of life.
Even mainstream Democrats are now sounding alarms over the socialists hijacking their party. Meanwhile, the federal government appears to be putting more pieces of the complex puzzle together, only now recognizing that some of these radical networks may be connected to foreign influence campaigns aimed at subverting the country from within.
On Wednesday, the State Department revealed that the three Cuban nationals were detained by federal agents after Secretary of State Marco Rubio terminated their legal status.
Carlos Antonio Lloga Dominguez, his wife, and his son are now in federal custody pending removal, according to the press release.
The department accused Lloga Dominguez of spending more than a decade working for the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, or ICAP, which Washington describes as Cuba's top influence and intelligence front group in the U.S.
And where have we heard ICAP before? Let's revisit our December 2025 note in which we pointed out:
According to a defected Cuban intelligence officer and corroborating intelligence reporting, legacy Castro-aligned groups such as the Venceremos Brigade and the National Lawyers Guild have been controlled by Cuba's Dirección General de Inteligencia (DGI) since at least the 1980s. That influence is exerted through ICAP (the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples).
ICAP is an official Cuban government organization, founded in 1960, that promotes international solidarity and cultural exchange. On paper, it organizes delegations, volunteer brigades, educational tours, and international conferences that oppose U.S. sanctions and support Cuba's political system. It appears benign - almost quaint.
But declassified CIA documents dating back to the Cold War describe a consistent operational method: foreign recruits were brought to Cuba for training in intelligence tradecraft or guerrilla sabotage and were received by DGI officers posing as ICAP officials. ICAP functioned as the intake valve - political cover for intelligence operations designed to cultivate long-term assets rather than short-term spies.
What exists today is not a single organization but a complex ecosystem.
ICAP sits at the center, functioning as a coordinating hub. Orbiting it is the National Network on Cuba (NNOC), a deliberately loose coalition that links 77 organizations of activists, nonprofits, and campaigns while minimizing legal exposure or clear command structures. The National Lawyers Guild serves as the lawfare and agitation arm, training protesters, facilitating delegations, and litigating against U.S. institutions under the guise of civil rights.
Funding and infrastructure come from the Neville Roy Singham Network, a web of organizations tied to Chinese Communist Party-aligned capital that provides money, logistics, and professionalized organizing capacity. Public narratives are amplified by legacy anti-war organizations like CODEPINK and the ANSWER Coalition, which are also now under the Singham umbrella. They frame U.S. foreign policy as illegitimate while defending authoritarian adversaries. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) functions as the political activation channel, translating activist energy into electoral and legislative influence on behalf of the Cuban regime.
Last month, Rubio sanctioned ICAP under Executive Order 14404, calling it a central node in a Cuban intel and influence network that claims links to more than 2,000 organizations across 150 countries.
The State Department said ICAP has maintained close ties to Cuban intelligence, noting that its current president, Fernando González Llort, was convicted in the U.S. for his role in the Wasp Network, a Cuban spy ring uncovered in Florida in the late 1990s.
Bloomberg noted that Lloga Dominguez was one of the individuals who brought far-left streamer Hasan Piker and parts of the Neville Roy Singham Network on a recent trip to Cuba.
It should be noted that Piker, the unofficial spokesperson for the DSA, has told millions of his followers "to kill capitalists. Let the streets soak in their fucking red capitalist blood."
Hasan Piker calls on his followers to kill capitalists:
“Yeah kill them! KiII those motherfuckers and murder those motherfuckers in the streets. Let the streets soak in their fucking red capitalist blood, dude.”
Democrats are campaigning with him. pic.twitter.com/YiZxGgRkgc
Related:
Alongside its Cuba focus, the Trump administration is also investigating China-based billionaire and self-described Marxist Neville Roy Singham over allegations that his NGO networks have helped sow chaos and propel far-left, anti-American movements across the U.S.
Related:
Earlier this week, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York, authorized by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, launched an investigation into whether Singham, NGOs he funded, or their leaders committed wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, or other financial crimes.
What is becoming increasingly obvious is that the pieces of the puzzle are coming together very quickly, giving readers a rough framework for understanding why the radical left has become so radical and why its rhetoric often sounds as if it were not organically born in the U.S.
That is because these movements may be operating within or adjacent to foreign influence networks with one main objective, as the DSA itself lays out: the destruction of the US.
With Democrats increasingly alarmed that socialists and Marxists are hijacking their party, Republicans may now have a simple and highly recognizable target: communism. For the first time in decades, the GOP has a message that can cut across partisan lines, because most Americans, regardless of political affiliation, still broadly understand one thing: communism is bad.
Tyler Durden Thu, 07/02/2026 - 18:00