About the Building Energy Codes Program
The Building Energy Codes Program (originally called the Building Energy Standards Program (BESP) and later the Building Standards and Guidelines Program (BSGP)) was funded in 1993 in response to the Energy Policy Act of 1992, which mandated that DOE participate in the model national codes development process and that DOE help states adopt and implement progressive energy codes. DOE had been active in the development of energy codes going all the way back to development of ASHRAE Standard 90-75 under the auspices of the Energy Research and Development Administration (DOE's predecessor) but BECP represented the first time energy codes had been given their own program with its own mandates.
The Energy Policy Act of 1992 originally mandated that DOE look at ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1989 (commercial) and the 1992 CABO Model Energy Code (residential) as the basis for state codes. In the next 18 years, a number of significant changes occurred in the codes world.
- CABO merged with BOCA and ICBO in 1998 to form the International Code Council (with significant input from BECP in the form of a new commercial requirements chapter).
- ASHRAE got their commercial codes onto a 3-year development cycle with the publication of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-12001 (with significant assistance from BECP ranging from leadership of the development committee to response to comments).
- ICC and ASHRAE began publishing new codes on a 3 year basis - with ASHRAE coming out with new codes in 2001, 2004, and 2007; and ICC coming out in 2000, 2003, 2006, and 2009.
In 2007, as part of its Advanced Codes Initiative, DOE signed a memorandum of understanding with ASHRAE to develop advanced commercial codes, with the first being that Standard 90.1-2010 would be 30% better than Standard 90.1-2004. This MOU set off the current efforts by BECP and ASRHAE which should culminate in 2010 with the development ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2010. The Advanced Codes Initiative also called for the development of advanced residential codes, with the first being that the 2012 IECC would be 30% better than the 2006 IECC.
The Energy Policy Act of 1992 also called on DOE to support the adoption and enforcement of energy codes in the states. To this end, BECP develops and maintains free software and tools to support those codes and standards (including the award-winning REScheck software for low-rise residential building energy code compliance, and the COMcheck software for commercial building energy code compliance), and conducts outreach and deployment activities related to energy codes and high-performance sustainably designed buildings. Outreach activities include an annual training event for states, on-demand training and technical assistance, a quarterly newsletter, and a website of useful information on all aspects of U.S. building energy codes. BECP also works with the Building Codes Assistance Project (BCAP) to support code-related advocacy activities.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided a new goal for DOE's building codes efforts - 90% compliance with energy code requirements for each state. BECP has developed processes and materials to support measurement of energy code compliance and is currently conducting pilot studies of those materials with states and the regional energy efficiency partnerships - MEEA, NEEA, NEEP, SEEA, and SWEEP.