Blog - New Buildings Institute

Jurisdictions Prepare for a Wave of Embodied Carbon Policies

Posted on June 17, 2021 by Webly Bowles

Third-party rating systems like LEED have put pressure on building product manufacturers to disclose details about the environmental impacts of their products. In just the past 16 months alone, the environmental product declarations (EPDs) for concrete within the Embodied Carbon...

U.S. DOE announces support for national program on advanced water heating to cut carbon emissions and energy use

Posted on May 21, 2021 by Stacey Hobart

Clothes washer, shower, kitchen sink. These are the places where hot water lives. In fact, water heating accounts for a large share of energy use in buildings—up to 32% in single-family and multifamily homes. Today, the U.S. Department of Energy...

This Earth Day, Every World Leader Should Be Talking About Education

Posted on April 19, 2021 by Reilly Loveland

On his first day in office, President Biden recommitted the United States to the Paris Agreement, an international effort to address the climate emergency. In rejoining the Paris Agreement, the United States must define and commit to delivering greenhouse gas...

Checking in on State Energy Code Progress Toward Zero Energy

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Kevin Carbonnier

ACEEE’s 2020 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard was released in December with California reclaiming the number one spot from Massachusetts. This is based on five categories including utility and public benefits, transportation, building energy efficiency, state initiatives, and appliance standards, according...

New GridOptimal LEED pilot credit encourages designers to help solve grid issues

Posted on March 31, 2021 by Alexi Miller

In 2019, renewable energy provided more energy in the U.S. than coal. The last time this happened, in 1885, the Edison Electric Company had been running the first American central power plant for all of three years and was serving...

Future-Proofing Buildings for a More Resilient Tomorrow

Posted on March 23, 2021 by Webly Bowles

This is the second in a series exploring the COVID-19 pandemic’s relationship to buildings. In the first blog, Buildings’ Impact on Pandemics — we discussed how the building industry’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can help fuel pandemics. These blogs are...

Utility Administrators Share Expertise on Zero Energy Programs

Posted on March 17, 2021 by Webly Bowles

Urgency to address climate change, along with policy and market forces trending toward a smart, flexible grid, has led a growing number of utility efficiency program administrators to consider ways to increase support for energy-efficient, zero energy buildings. With the...

Denver Shows Leadership With Net Zero Energy Plan

Posted on March 5, 2021 by Sean Denniston

The City and County of Denver recently released a comprehensive plan to achieve net zero energy (NZE) in new buildings and homes by 2030, one of many initiatives being taking to meet the jurisdiction’s goal of an 80% reduction in...

Buildings’ Impact on Pandemics

Posted on February 26, 2021 by Webly Bowles

As the people across the globe respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, a concerted effort has been made to keep occupants safe as office buildings reopen, an endeavor that can inherently use more energy from carbon-intensive generation resources exacerbating climate change...

Five Questions with Smita Gupta

Posted on February 22, 2021 by Stacey Hobart

New Buildings Institute welcomed Smita Gupta as its new Director for Building Innovation in early February. We asked Smita five questions about her experiences over two decades in the energy and buildings industries. Here’s what she shared. Q: Welcome to...

School Districts Scale Their Zero Energy Efforts

Posted on December 21, 2020 by Amy Cortese

Over the last decade an increasing number of school districts across the country have invested in zero energy buildings as a way to dramatically improve energy performance, provide healthy indoor environments, and foster better academic outcomes for students. Well before...

Stretch Codes: A Key Tool on the Path to Carbon Neutral Buildings

Posted on December 16, 2020 by Jim Edelson

Adopting energy codes that go beyond the base, or required minimum code, is proving to be an effective way to achieve energy savings and reduce carbon emission from the built environment. We have long been hearing about states such as...

The New Residential Zero Energy Appendix: An Important Addition for Code Adoption

Posted on December 8, 2020 by Kimberly Cheslak

For the first time, the new 2021 update of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), which is anticipated to be released in the next few weeks, includes a Zero Energy Home Appendix that provides cities and states with ready-made code...

Carbon a Key Focus at ACEEE’s Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Posted on November 4, 2020 by Stacey Hobart

Every other year, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) welcomes energy industry professionals from around the country to its Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. Centered around the theme, “Efficiency: The Core of a Clean Energy Future,”...

Reduce Carbon in Existing Buildings and Put America Back to Work

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Kimberly Cheslak

We all know too well of the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. These impacts are compounded by increasingly destructive wildfires, hurricanes, and flooding – so much so that nearly two-thirds of Americans – including more than half...

The 2021 IECC’s circuitous path to conclusion

Posted on October 12, 2020 by Kimberly Cheslak

It’s been one year, eight months, 28 days since proposals were due into the International Code Council’s (ICC) system for consideration into the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). That doesn’t include the time proponents spent considering and drafting proposals...

Improving Health and Resilience Through Better Building Design

Posted on October 6, 2020 by Maurissa Brown

This summer, as a record number of uncontained wildfires burned along the West Coast, residents feverishly checked websites such as PurpleAir to determine if it was safe to go outside. Every year, wildfires raise awareness about the impacts of poor...

Implementing Building Performance Standards: Consistency is Key

Posted on September 29, 2020 by Kimberly Cheslak

A building performance standard (BPS) provides a powerful solution for cities working to meet climate goals, achieve energy savings and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As a forward-looking policy for existing buildings, a BPS commits a city or state to...

Does the changing policy landscape pit efficiency against renewables?

Posted on September 24, 2020 by Stacey Hobart

With cities and states pursing renewable portfolio standards and national calls to decarbonize the grid by 2035, does efficiency still matter with a clean grid? The first answer: yes, energy efficiency benefits are, as they have been for decades, delivering...

Bringing Heat Pump Water Heaters into the Mainstream

Posted on August 12, 2020 by Amruta Khanolkar

It takes a village to change technology. We in the efficiency industry have witnessed decades of partnerships to bring transformative change to refrigerators, lighting, motors and HVAC. With increasing concern over the energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated...

Electrification Nation?

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Stacey Hobart

Natural gas, once the darling to replace carbon-intensive coal in electricity production, is increasingly being recognized as a significant cause of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that are fueling climate change. The main component of natural gas is methane, which when...

2021 Energy Code Progress Challenged: Climate and Affordability Stand to Lose Unless We Speak Up

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Kimberly Cheslak

Update: See final result In December 2019, more than 1,000 government representatives from cities and states across the U.S. did something remarkable when they voted to improve the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) by 10%. Since buildings account for...

Delivering Climate Solutions From Existing Buildings: No Time to Waste

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Kimberly Cheslak

With buildings accounting for up to 75% of carbon emissions in U.S. cities, addressing carbon emissions from the built environment is essential to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement and limit the rise in global average temperature to below...

Finalizing the 2021 IECC takes the next step forward

Posted on June 29, 2020 by Maria Ellingson

The 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) development process has officially entered an appeals phase and we wanted to share an update. With the International Code Council’s (ICC) release of the Final Action Results in early April, six appeals were...

GridOptimal Metrics Offer Guidance on Optimizing Building-Grid Interaction

Posted on May 18, 2020 by Alexi Miller

Measurement and metrics are at the core of nearly all business activity today. Those in the buildings and energy efficiency field are accustomed to some standard metrics: Energy Use Intensity (EUI), percent better than code, cost per square foot, and...

Could coronavirus be a wake up call for climate action?

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Ralph DiNola

We are living through an unprecedented global health crisis that has upended our daily routines and halted the economy in a matter of weeks. Rebounding from the loss of lives and the economic fallout caused by the coronavirus across the...

Improved Building Energy Model Code Challenged

Posted on March 12, 2020 by Kimberly Cheslak

Update: See final result Better building codes mean lower energy bills, which results in lower costs for consumers and fewer carbon emissions for the planet. Sounds like a winning combination, right? That’s why we were delighted when the initial results...

Reilly Loveland Wins USGBC Green Schools Ambassador Award

Posted on March 12, 2020 by Connie Umphress

NBI Project Manager Reilly Loveland was recently awarded the USGBC Center for Green Schools Ambassador Award at the March Green Schools Conference and Expo held this year in NBI’s hometown, Portland. Ore. We asked Reilly some questions about the award,...

The Embodied Carbon Conundrum: Solving for All Emission Sources from the Built Environment

Posted on February 26, 2020 by Amy Cortese

Increasing urgency among policymakers and the design community to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Accord has spurred more aggressive codes and energy policies in jurisdictions around the United States. These strategies are making gains on driving down carbon...

Los Angeles Mayor Garcetti Leading the Way to Decarbonization with Municipal Buildings

Posted on February 11, 2020 by Reilly Loveland

Less than year after Mayor Eric Garcetti unveiled a Green New Deal for the city of Los Angeles, he is building on that leadership with a new Executive Directive that will help kick-start the decarbonization movement by accelerating the transformation...