To spur quantum leaps in energy efficiency, national, state, and local initiatives are taking aim at more stringent energy codes and other means to improve commercial building energy performance. With all of the interest and activity, local program managers are interested in the ramification on voluntary efficiency programs.

Raising the Bar
Among other efforts, the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers is seeking model building energy codes 30 percent better than current code levels by 2010. The American Institute for Architects 2030 Challenge states that all new buildings, and an equal square footage of renovated existing building space, shall be designed to consume 50 percent less energy than the average for that building type. On the carrot side, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 includes tax incentives for buildings that are designed more efficiently. States and localities are also getting in on the act. California’s Public Utilities Commission set a goal that all new commercial construction will be zero net energy by 2030. Many other jurisdictions have set climate protection goals and are adopting more stringent, or “green,” building codes to get there.

Two CEE members, David Hewitt from New Buildings Institute (NBI) and Randall Higa of Southern California Edison (SCE), shed some light on these trends and potential impacts to local and regional energy efficiency programs during the CEE Winter Program Meeting.

Questions Remain
“There is growing interest among various organizations and jurisdictions in ratcheting commercial building energy codes by 20 to 30 percent or more,” explains Jason Erwin, senior commercial program manager at CEE. “This trend begs a number of questions, including whether increasing building codes actually reduces building energy consumption by the amounts prescribed. CEE members are interested in how stricter codes will impact voluntary, rate-payer funded energy efficiency programs.”

Hewitt described the opportunities and challenges in moving from prescribed building code performance to actual, measured energy performance. In a recent study, Hewitt compared the modeled energy performance of a subset of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings to their actual, measured performance. The study found that about 30 percent of LEED buildings performed better than expected, while 25 percent performed worse than expected. The higher-tiered LEED buildings, Gold and Platinum, began to approach some of the interim 2030 energy reduction goals.

“The main conclusions from this study are that direct and consistent building end-use monitoring is needed to provide program and project feedback,” said Hewitt. “While modeled and measured building energy performance was correlated, there can be significant variation between a building’s designed energy budget and its actual energy performance.”

New Models
Hewitt explained that several new models have emerged for how building codes and voluntary efficiency programs may better align. One such model, an “Informative Appendix,” sets a future code level in advance and can form the basis for the current voluntary commercial construction incentive program. In this manner, the market is conditioned and informed ahead of time. Another model, “Play or Pay,” requires developers or owners to either meet a specified energy performance level or pay into a fund that would finance equivalent energy savings elsewhere. This fund could complement local efficiency program offerings and drive deeper project-level energy savings.

California Credits Programs
Importantly, jurisdictions like California are enabling the investor-owned utilities (IOUs) running efficiency programs to get credit for their role in supporting and advancing codes and standards.

According to several recent studies, California nonresidential building code compliance rates can be low. For example, the California Energy Commission (CEC) has found that very few HVAC installations in the state are performed with proper local permits and rarely complied with the system sizing and duct treatment specifications.

Through their training and codes and standards program efforts, the California IOUs have a valuable role in supporting better code compliance. Higa explained that through the state codes and standards program, the IOUs contribute expertise, research, analysis and other kinds of support to CEC.

“The codes and standards program in California is administered by the four IOUs—Pacific Gas and Electric, SCE, San Diego Gas and Electric, and Southern California Gas—under the auspices of the CEC,” explained Higa. “This program is a component of each IOU’s energy efficiency portfolio and each IOU can earn shareholder earnings for meeting the overall portfolio goals.” In addition to California, other CEE members described their process for establishing a code enhancement role as part of their program portfolios.

CEE will continue to monitor its members’ efforts in this area and emerging models that create synergies between building code adjustments and voluntary energy efficiency programs.

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