Florida’s New Train-The-Trainer Program Launches

Posted on May 12, 2015May 23, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

The Florida Home Builders Association (FHBA) and the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA) have teamed up to prepare building code trainers to deliver effective energy code training for the Florida construction industry. The organizations developed a curriculum in early 2015 and held the first train-the-trainer series in late February. The train-the-trainer session’s purpose is to introduce the curriculum, training techniques, and valuable skills to new and existing local trainers as...

DOE’s Three Year Residential Energy Code Field Study

Posted on May 12, 2015May 18, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

In September 2014, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced eight states that would participate in a three year Residential Energy Code Field Study. The states include: Pennsylvania, Maryland, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas. Through the project, DOE plans to establish a sufficient data set to represent statewide construction trends and detect significant changes in energy use from training, education and outreach activities. The study comprises three main ...

Outreach to Architects in Pennsylvania

Posted on February 24, 2015May 18, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

by Maria Ellingson, BCAP As often the first point of contact with prospective owners of new homes and buildings, architects are a key influencer in determining the level of energy efficiency that is included in new construction and major renovation projects. But architects have been largely absent from an important issue that’s left Pennsylvania unable to adopt an updated building code. The process for adopting the state building code - the Uniform Construction Code (UCC) - is currentl...

The City Energy Project Assessment Methodology For Energy Code Compliance In Medium To Large Cities

Posted on January 28, 2015May 23, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

The City Energy Project Assessment Methodology is designed to assist cities in identifying residential and commercial energy code compliance issues and help identify the areas they should focus on in order to improve their compliance rates. The methodology helps cities identify common areas of non-compliance as well as the causes of non-compliance. Compliance information collected as part of the study can also contribute to larger statewide compliance studies. Strategies to compliance are contai...

Building a Stronger Local Energy Code Network in Oklahoma and Texas

Posted on January 28, 2015January 5, 2017 by Kamaria Greenfield

More people in Oklahoma and Texas will soon enjoy the benefits of a stronger local energy code community through the work of twelve newly-certified Energy Code Ambassadors. These volunteers will work under the auspices of the South-central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource (SPEER), the newest regional energy efficiency organization. In December 2014, SPEER doubled the number of its Energy Code Ambassadors from the previous year's inaugural class. John Umphress, Building Code Off...

What Have We Done Lately?

Posted on December 22, 2014July 29, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

BCAP asked the National Energy Codes Collaborative:What have we done in 2014? Approval for DOE National Energy Codes Conference in Nashville, TN Determinations ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2013 (final) 2015 IECC (preliminary) HUD 2009 (preliminary Compliance Initiatives Circuit Rider in Florida, Massachusetts, Rhode Island Utility programs in Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Rhode Island Collaboratives in Minnesota, Oklahoma Baseline studies in Colorado, Michi...

Energy Codes Get It Done

Posted on December 1, 2014May 20, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

If every state began 2015 with the 2012 IECC for residential and commercial construction and moved from 60% compliance to 100% compliance by 2030, how much would the cumulative source energy savings, energy cost savings, and carbon emission reductions be in 2030? Using the energy data provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and BCAP's Energy Code Calculator, BCAP calculated the estimated savings and reductions in each state. Cumulative State Savings (view full-size vers...

The Carrot Or The Stick? Navigating The Balance In Strategies For Improving Energy Code Compliance

Posted on November 11, 2014June 1, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

Written by Ryan Meres and Seul Rhee Energy efficiency advocates, governments, utilities, and others that fund energy code compliance initiatives often question whether enforcement or training and outreach are more effective at driving higher compliance rates. The answer isn’t obvious. Case in point: a recent energy code auditing initiative of New York City’s Department of Buildings is driving more stakeholders to meet the energy code, proving that more stringent enforcement increas...

Codes, Standards and Rating Systems

Posted on October 20, 2014May 18, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

Are architects unaware of their legal obligations under licensure, or are they simply negligent? Maureen Guttman, AIA In the United States, national model energy codes were created in response to the energy and economic crises of the 1970s. In 1978, Congress passed the National Energy Conservation Policy Act, which required states that received federal financial assistance to initiate energy efficiency standards for new buildings. In 1992, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act (EPAct), whi...

Survey Of Code Professionals Predicts Substantial Retirement Exodus

Posted on August 28, 2014May 23, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

A recent survey conducted by the National Institute of Building Sciences on behalf of the International Code Council (ICC) reveals information that if not addressed in the coming years, may have an impact on the public safety of thousands of communities in the United States. The survey, which consisted of 25 multiple-choice questions, went out nationwide to building code compliance professionals at the federal, regional, state and local levels this spring. A total of 3,850 code professionals r...

High-R Wall Construction Strategies: Reducing Costs And Risk While Increasing Energy Performance

Posted on April 17, 2014August 11, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

by Seul Rhee The U.S. Department of Energy’s Building America research program has been a source of innovations in residential building energy performance, durability, quality, affordability and comfort for nearly 20 years. This world-class research program partners with industry (including many of the top U.S. homebuilders) to bring cutting-edge innovations and resources to market. The NAHB Research Center Building America industry team's high-R wall system research focuses primarily on incre...

The Energy Code Ambassador Program: A Network Of Peer-To-Peer Support

Posted on April 16, 2014July 26, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

Energy Code Ambassadors are experienced building code officials who have been specially trained and certified on the energy code, and volunteer to offer their expertise and assistance to other code professionals in their state. They provide customized assistance to other code professionals or the construction and design industry. For example, in working with neighboring building departments, they provide an overview of the state energy code, assist with a plan review or site inspection, discuss ...

Applying 2013 Energy Codes

Posted on February 18, 2014June 27, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

Looking back at this year's green projects, it seems architects should have placed greater concern on energy code compliance.

Engaging More Architects To Meet The Compliance Goal

Posted on January 15, 2014July 20, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

by Seul Rhee While many states have worked hard to adopt the 2009 or 2012 International Energy Conservation Code, implementation and compliance are sometimes overlooked. But that is changing. National, regional, and local focus is shifting to address meeting the 90 percent compliance goal set by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Working with numerous state energy offices (22 states and counting) to investigate and assess a state’s existing energy code infrastructure, one comm...

Nebraska Energy Code Compliance Collaborative: A Case Study On An Emerging Best Practice

Posted on November 5, 2013July 25, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

by Paul Karrer In the wake of the Great Recession in 2009, Congress passed the Recovery Act to stimulate the national economy. Within that legislation, a pot of $3.1 billion in expanded State Energy Program (SEP) funding was linked to commitments from states to update their building energy codes and to develop plans to achieve greater rates of compliance by 2017. By January 2014, BCAP projects that about two of every three U.S. states will have implemented building energy codes that meet or ex...

New and Improved Energy Code Ambassador Program Launched In Ohio

Posted on September 20, 2013July 26, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

In May 2013, eight code enforcement professionals from across Ohio were trained to become Energy Code Ambassadors for the state in a newly improved program offered by the Building Codes Assistance Project (BCAP) and the International Code Council (ICC). BCAP and ICC partnered with the Ohio Development Services Agency’s Office of Energy to launch the Ohio Energy Code Ambassador Program (ECAP) in coordination with the Ohio Board of Building Standards (BBS). With support from two utilities in the s...

Compliance Collaboratives Convene To Share Lessons Learned

Posted on August 29, 2013October 18, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

On August 22, BCAP hosted an information sharing webinar on an emerging best practice in building energy codes: state Energy Code Compliance Collaboratives. A compliance collaborative is a forum for experts from diverse stakeholder groups impacted by energy codes to come together to work toward common interests and goals. The collaborative is a long-term, multi-year initiative to assist its state in implementing a plan to achieve full compliance with energy codes. The webinar featured progress ...

Alabama Energy Code Ambassadors Program To Expand In 2012

Posted on November 30, 2011July 25, 2016 by Kamaria Greenfield

As Alabama looks to adopt its first mandatory statewide energy code in 2012, several stakeholder groups also look forward to expanding the Alabama Energy Codes Ambassadors Program (ECAP). Through an additional grant, PNNL has provided funds for travel expenses for ECAP trainees through April 2012. ECAP was established to train code officials who can provide technical assistance and training to code officials in other local jurisdictions. The program aims to train code officials to act as “peer-t...