DOE Petition To Investigate ICC RESNET Ecosystem

I am submitting a petition to both the Department of Energy  and the  Department of Justice In response to the Department Of Energy DOE requesting comments after they released a press release with new analysis finding that nationwide adoption of the 2024 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) would significantly increase housing construction costs and burden American families with costly Green New Scam mandates. 

Small Residential Unit ( SRU) 

After really researching the relationship between ICC and RESNET, it is even clearer why ICC wants to rebrand tiny houses under the arbitrary SRU ICC brand for the regulatory capture of the tiny house industry.


The "Two-Headed Hub": One Leader, Two Non-Profits

The most alarming evidence of regulatory capture lies in a leadership interlock that creates a "blackout of competing standards." Mark Johnson currently serves as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the International Code Council (ICC). 

Simultaneously, Johnson serves as the President of the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET), the trade association that certifies the very raters and software required to prove compliance with those codes.

The "SRU" Bait-and-Switch: Redefining the Tiny House

 This reclassification is the "gateway drug" for regulatory expansion within the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), forcing a minimalist lifestyle into a massive compliance chain in the ICC/RESNET pay to play system,  including blower door tests. 

Conclusion: A Future for All Homes?

The "Small Residential Unit" was never about safety; it was about redirecting a movement into a pay-to-play ecosystem. To restore the dream of affordable living, we must dismantle the " loops" and "sham" lobbying efforts that have turned our building codes into instruments of market exclusion.

Can we truly fix housing affordability without first addressing the regulatory structures that make it illegal to build affordably? It is time to ensure that tiny homes are finally invited to the table to determine the future of the industry—not as a captured subset of a corporate "SRU" pipeline, but as a legitimate, independent path to freedom.

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Janet Thome President 
Tiny House Alliance USA 
janet@tinyhouseallianceusa.org