Category: Energy Codes and Policy
Getting to 50 and Back Again
Post / May 30, 2018
2005 was a tumultuous year and it was in those challenging times that I got the call that Jeff Johnson was gone – a mountain bike accident in the Columbia River Gorge. I knew Jeff as the Executive Director of...
NBI’s Legacy of Code Advocacy Lives On
Post / March 8, 2018 / Energy Codes
New Buildings Institute (NBI) has played an active and influential role in building energy codes since the day its doors opened in 1997. Jeff Johnson, one of its first executive directors, was an ardent codes advocate with a long track...
Eric Makela Joins NBI’s Codes and Policy Team
Post / February 22, 2018 / Energy Codes
We are pleased to announce the addition of Eric Makela to our Codes and Policy team. He brings over 30 years of global expertise in energy code development, training and evaluation, throughout the United States as well as abroad, including...
Outcomes Matter
Post / November 16, 2017 / Energy Codes
We all know what it takes to lead a healthy life—eat your vegetables, exercise, and visit your doctor to monitor your cholesterol, blood sugar, weight and blood pressure. Now imagine what life would be like if you decided to eat...
Stretch Codes: A Disruptive Solution to Super Charge Green Building
Post / November 6, 2017 / Energy Codes
This week, thousands of building industry professionals will converge at Greenbuild 2017 to share their excitement and progress advancing green buildings. While the number of green buildings—energy-efficient, zero energy, LEED and ENERGY STAR-certified, etc.—has grown dramatically over the last decade,...
A New Metric for Tracking Energy Codes Driving Toward Zero
Post / October 10, 2017 / Energy Codes
ACEEE’s 2017 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard was released in late September with Massachusetts leading based on six categories including utility programs, transportation, building energy codes, combined heat and power, state initiative and appliance standards, according to ACEEE. Looking ahead, there are...
The Sum of its Parts – Honoring the Paris Climate Agreement
Post / June 2, 2017 / Policy
Last October, New Buildings Institute along with a host of partners, opened the Getting to Zero National Forum with great enthusiasm, sharing gratitude and satisfaction over the ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement, noting how the global agreement to address...
Cities Get Help to Prioritize Energy Upgrades, Improve Codes and Policies that Drive Better Building Performance
Post / April 21, 2017 / Benchmarking & Feedback, Existing Buildings
Buildings are responsible for almost half of all U.S. energy consumption (46%), and poor-performing buildings have an outsized impact on energy use. But without a systematic approach to track building performance, it’s often difficult to know where to start. By setting...
The Budding Energy Footprint of Indoor Agriculture
Post / April 7, 2017
Indoor agriculture energy usage is projected to grow substantially over the next several years, driven in large part (but not entirely) by the legalization of medical and recreational cannabis. Seven U.S. states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational...
The Louisville (Energy Codes) Saga
Post / May 16, 2016
Nearly 35 years ago, the US Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 1992. Since then, every 3 years have seen an increase in building energy efficiency but now that may change. Although Congress wisely concluded back in 1992 that...