Driven by a need to foster economic development, create jobs, and address environmental concerns, cities are increasingly recognizing the need to encourage investment in building performance with creative financing mechanisms. Making the largest impact possible with limited funds can be challenging. However, cities now have an abundance of governmental and private sector tools available to … Continued
What to expect under the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code Building Officials descended upon Atlantic City, New Jersey in October to attend the International Code Council’s (ICC) Public Comment Hearings and decide the final version of the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). The IECC is updated every three years and serves as the national … Continued
Together, the Leading Builders of America–which represents 20 of the nation’s largest builders accounting for 40 percent of the new single-family homes market–the Institute for Market Transformation, the Britt/Makela Group and the Natural Resources Defense Council have proposed a change to the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) that would result in significant energy savings, … Continued
This proposal was approved by the Residential Energy Committee at the Dallas Committee Action Hearings in April. Contact your mayor or city manager or county leadership and ask them to send representatives to the International Codes Council’s meeting in Atlantic City this October where the 2015 code will be considered—and vote for our groundbreaking proposal—“proposal RE188-13, … Continued
If interest is high in building energy efficiency in the United States, why aren’t investments in efficiency growing? Experts from local and federal governments, the private sector, and non-government organizations explored that question at a June 2013 Roundtable Dialogue in Washington, D.C., convened by the Johnson Controls Institute for Building Efficiency (IBE) and the Institute … Continued
Conventionally, local governments implement and enforce building codes through a building or development services department, staffed by government employees. However, as municipal budgets shrink and construction volumes become more unpredictable, jurisdictions have found it difficult to maintain this enforcement structure while ensuring the same level of quality, timeliness, and customer service. One solution is to … Continued
This report presents the results of a state-by-state analysis of the potential energy and cost savings from improving compliance with building energy codes to 100 percent from current levels. The report also examines 45 statewide compliance evaluation studies, providing a summary of evaluation methods and key findings. Evidence in most states indicates that staggering rates … Continued
In July 2012, a working group comprised of local utilities, utility regulators, building owners, and experts from the real estate, academic, and energy efficiency fields came together to examine utility efforts to provide building operators with better access to energy consumption data for their buildings. A product of the working group, this report identifies best … Continued
Building energy-efficiency codes have received considerable attention lately because of the energy-savings opportunities they present for utilities and other program administrators (PAs). A recent report estimates that upgrades to building energy codes could offset as much as a third of all electricity consumption growth nationally through 2025. PAs are in a strong position to support … Continued
247 public buildings, 24 million square feet – and a new perspective on a familiar city.