Publications

Data Collection Supplemental Worksheets used to support the Commercial Energy Code Field Study.

Project Goal: Assess and record energy code compliance of buildings currently under construction, following the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) processes, in compliance with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), and identify procedural changes in code enforcement and training needed to improve compliance rates.

Described separately from the U.S. DOE Multifamily Residential Energy Efficiency Field Study, this report is a simultaneous study of building air tightness occurred using several of the main study buildings and additional sites that met the building type criteria. Overall, 26 sites were evaluated this way using semi-automated testing equipment (blower doors).
 

Presentation slides from the 9/22/22 Energy Code Implementation: Insights from the Field to the Classroom 2022 Summer Seminar Series webinar.

From August 1997 to September 1999, one hundred new Arkansas homes were evaluated in two areas in the state where there was significant building activity in order to determine the energy performance of current building practices. One of the positive findings was that homes are now being built significantly tighter than a few years ago. Homes built in the early to in.id 1990's were experiencing an average of 0.5 natural air changes per hour (NACH), an acceptable level considered normal for new construction Only 24 homes in this evaluation had leakage rates exceeding 0.4 NACH; the majority of homes (58 percent) had leakage rates of 0.35 and under.

The U.S. Department of Energy has provided funding for states to conduct residential field studies, with the purpose of identifying opportunities for energy code training & education in new construction. The participation of builders and local building departments is crucial in supporting this important activity.  This Fact Sheet summarizes this field study.

Presentation slides prepared for Residential Field Study stakeholder participants.  

Summary of the full technical brief which provides requirements for demand-responsive thermostats and water heaters that could be incorporated into model residential energy codes. It provides background on the benefits of these devices, impacts on the cost of construction, and model code language that can be plugged into the IECC or adapted into other energy codes.

A research project in the State of Georgia investigated the energy code-related aspects of unoccupied, newly constructed, single family homes across the state. The study followed a DOE-prescribed methodology, which allowed the project team to build an empirical data set based on observations made directly in the field.

The purpose of this report is to document findings and final results from the Georgia field study, including a summary of key trends observed in the field, their impact on energy efficiency, and whether the selected education and training activities resulted in a measurable change in statewide energy use.

A research project in the state of Idaho identified opportunities to reduce homeowner energy costs in residential single-family new construction by increasing compliance with the current state energy code. The study was initiated in January 2018; data collection began in March 2018 and continued through June 2018. During this period, research teams visited 127 homes during various stages of construction, resulting in a collection of data based on observations made directly in the field.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), funded by DOE, conducted an assessment of the prospective impacts of national model building energy codes from 2010 through 2040. A previous PNNL study evaluated the impact of the Building Energy Codes Program; this study looked more broadly at overall code impacts. This report describes the methodology used for the assessment and presents the impacts in terms of energy savings, consumer cost savings, and reduced CO2 emissions at the state level and at aggregated levels.

This report provides the results and methodologies for the 2010-2011 Iowa Energy Code Pilot Study that was conducted by the Iowa Department of Public Safety, division of State Fire Marshal, State Building Code Bureau. This study was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy with support from Pacific Northwest National Laboratories – Building Energy Codes Project and the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA). Preliminary work on the study began in May of 2010. A contract with MEEA was signed in October 2010 with work commencing on the study in January 2011. The primary goal of the study was to determine the rate of compliance with the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code throughout the state of Iowa. Secondary goals of the study were to determine average energy code inspection durations, provide training to local code officials and builders participating in the study, and to determine areas of improvement.

A research project in the Commonwealth of Kentucky identified opportunities to reduce homeowner utility bills in residential single-family new construction by increasing compliance with the state energy code. The study was initiated in April 2015 and continued through August 2015. During this period, research teams visited 140 homes during various stages of construction, resulting in a substantial data set based on observations made directly in the field.

The purpose of this report is to document findings and final results from the Kentucky field study, including a summary of key trends observed in the field, their impact on energy efficiency, and whether the selected education and training activities resulted in a measurable change in statewide energy use.

Field study data supporting the U.S. DOE Multifamily Residential Energy Efficiency Field Study to validate the impact of building energy codes in low-rise multifamily buildings and identify opportunities for increased energy that can be addressed through workforce education & training programs. This zip file contains individual documents listed below)

• Data Dictionary
• Entity Relationship Diagram
• Generic Read Me
• Illinois Summary Dataset
• Minnesota Summary Dataset
• Oregon Summary Dataset
• Washington Summary Dataset

A research project in the state of Maryland investigated energy code-related aspects of residential single-family new construction. The study was initiated in January 2015 and continued through July 2015. During this period, research teams visited 207 homes during various stages of construction, resulting in a substantial data set based on observations made directly in the field.

The purpose of this report is to document findings and final results from the Maryland field study, including a summary of key trends observed in the field, their impact on energy efficiency, and whether the selected education and training activities resulted in a measurable change in statewide energy use.

The goals of this study were threefold: 1) Provide feedback to the BECP on the implementation of the BECP protocol 2) Develop a preliminary pattern/range of the existing compliance rates of newly constructed residential dwellings and commercial buildings based on jurisdictions in Illinois that have adopted the building energy codes and 3) Identify areas where home performance and codes training and education activities could be improved or refocused. Measurements of a small sample set (10) of commercial buildings were also taken. Due to the insignificance sample size, a commercial compliance rate is not reported here.

This technical documentation provides background on TSPR and support for the mechanical performance factors that are developed each 90.1 edition cycle to be used in the calculation. The current factors are developed for the 2022 edition of 90.1 in combination with addendum AG.