The Denver Post recently dropped a fun little read about how Colorado’s unelected bureaucrats have found yet another way to make housing completely unaffordable while pretending they’re saving the planet. The Colorado Legislature cedes authority to unelected bureaucrats in the Colorado Energy Office (CEO) to whip out new codes. The Denver Post piece highlights how the CEO has done just that, and – viola – Colorado will now require cities and counties to adopt updated building codes focused on cutting emissions – because if there’s one thing this housing market needed, it was more expensive regulations. The article breaks down the state’s latest move toward forcing local governments to use greener construction standards. It’s the bureaucratic version of holding a bake sale – for climate change.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Colorado is making local governments update building codes to cut greenhouse gas emissions because apparently saving the earth can only happen through increased permit costs.
- Will Toor – head honcho at the Colorado Energy Office and resident Boulder zealot – is pushing harder for green upgrades than a CrossFitter who just found vegan protein powder.
- These updates come straight from bill HB21-1286 & HB22-1362: a bureaucratic casserole of mandates written by folks who’ve never held a hammer or designed a home.
- SWEEP (Southwest Energy Efficiency Project) is heavily mentioned in the article – which is like hearing your ex is now running HR at your job. Red flags everywhere.
- Nobody seems to care how much this drives up housing prices – because ideology comes first and affordability comes last.
My Bottom Line
Only in Colorado can you say “affordable housing” with one breath and then shove costly green building mandates down everyone’s throats with the next. Want fewer greenhouse gases? Sure, but maybe don’t torch working families while you’re at it. These new building code requirements are so layered in virtue signals I’m surprised they don’t glow in the dark. They add cost, red tape, and bureaucracy for anyone trying to build an actual home. And you know what they accomplish for the planet? Absolutely squat, that’s right, goose egg levels of CO2 salvation. But they did pick winners and losers when it comes to energy usage.
The guy leading this lunacy? Will Toor – a man who seems allergic to market forces but deeply committed to making everything more expensive while patting himself on the back under his solar-powered LED porch light. He emerged from SWEEP – an organization that might as well be renamed SUSPECT – and has been behind most of Polis’ green energy crusades. If even half that effort went toward fixing our broken permitting systems or actually streamlining affordable builds…well, maybe people could afford homes instead of renting shoe boxes for $3K/month in Denver.
It’s painfully obvious: this isn’t about environmental balance – it’s about control paired with cheap applause from urban environmentalists who wouldn’t know a two-by-four if it hit them in their subsidized Prius. Real conservation means balance- not crippling regulations penned by bureaucrats fueled by tangerine kombucha and Greta Thunberg calendars.
We’re not against sustainability – we just want it done by people with common sense. Let contractors build homes affordably. Let families thrive without needing an engineering degree to light their living room. And for heaven’s sake, stop using climate policy as your political open mic night.
