The Costs and Benefits of Measuring If States Meet 90 Percent Compliance

States having accepted funds from the State Energy Program (SEP) under The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) have agreed to implement the statewide energy code that meets or exceeds IECC 2009 for residences and ASHRAE 90.1 2007 for commercial buildings. The states have also agreed to achieve a statewide level of 90% compliance with these building energy codes by the year 2017. The US DOE’s Building Energy Code Program (BECP) has developed a recommended protocol for states to use to determine if they exceed the 90% compliance level with the energy code in new and renovated residential and commercial buildings. This paper reports on a study funded by New York State Energy Research Authority (NYSERDA) and ARRA that tests the BECP protocol and performs an assessment of current energy code compliance in New York State.