I just read an article that the International Code Council's Residential Building Code Committee (RBCC) has said that in 2011, these will become the standard in all new homes.  This is the council that 48 states use to regulate their building codes. There was debate last week whether this would go through and the council voted for it 7-4. 

I find this to be a very interesting development.  I believe this could help jump start new home sales since consumers are all about safety and security. Or, it could hurt sales by driving up the costs of new houses and making them not as competitive with existing homes.

The article points out there are some safety hazards that need to be considered such as cabling in the home that comes from inferior manufacturers. This could be a fire hazard.

I am also thinking another hazard could be what if the sprinklers go off when you are cooking fatty burgers on the stove which cause an excess of smoke?  Maybe the code should also include ventilation pipes that go out of the kitchen (seen in more high end homes) or down-draft ventilation.

Click here to read the article.