Category: Energy Codes and Policy
Votes Matter for Better Buildings
Post / October 31, 2019 / Energy Codes
Building code officials, sustainability officers, builders, efficiency advocates and others are leaving Las Vegas after attending the International Code Council’s (ICC) annual conference and public comment hearings on the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). Updated every three years, the...
NBI Helps Decision Makers Prepare for the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) Update
Post / October 23, 2019
The 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) update is one of the most profound ways states and local governments can improve the comfort and health of residents, reduce costs for building owners and residents, and make progress toward climate action...
Public Buildings Portfolio Management Helps Cities Get on Track to Meet Climate Goals
Post / September 16, 2019
Hundreds of cities across the country have set bold, aggressive energy and climate goals. Yet most of these communities are not on track to meet their goals, according to the latest City Clean Energy Scorecard, released in July by American...
Is Your City and State Ready to Vote on the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code?
Post / August 22, 2019
State and local government representatives have the power to advance local energy codes and improve the comfort and health of residents by participating in and voting for efficiency proposals in the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) update. But they...
U.S. Conference of Mayors Unanimously Resolves to Support Advancements to the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC)
Post / August 16, 2019
The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) is known for tackling issues of national importance. Climate change is one of those critical issues that the mayors addressed at their 2019 annual meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. On July 1, 2019, the USCM...
Key Takeaways From Recent IECC Code Development Hearings
Post / June 10, 2019
Code officials, architects, builders, engineers and energy conservation professionals gathered last month in Albuquerque for the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC)’s Committee Action Hearings. The proceedings were the first step in a lengthy stakeholder process to update the 2021 IECC,...
Efficiency and Carbon Reduction Goals Converge at the Built Environment
Post / April 17, 2019
With mounting evidence that immediate and aggressive action is necessary to address climate change, combined with a lack of leadership on this issue by the federal government, state and local governments are taking meaningful actions to adopt, honor, and meet...
A Small Window of Opportunity to Make Huge Gains in Climate Action
Post / March 19, 2019
Cities face unrelenting demands on policy priorities. Affordable housing, transportation, economic development, climate action, and other pressing issues compete for limited resources and funds. Now is a moment in time, however, when the opportunity to make significant progress toward carbon...
2019 is the Year of Energy Codes
Post / January 14, 2019
If there’s a defining theme for the building sector in 2019, it’s energy codes. Actions to update the rules that cities and states set to determine how effectively new residential and commercial buildings use energy are progressing on several fronts...
New York Invests in Energy-Saving Strategies to Meet Climate Action Goals
Post / January 4, 2019
New York has emerged as a shining star in local energy policy with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s announcement early last year of an ambitious energy efficiency target to reduce energy consumption by 185 trillion BTUs (British thermal units) by...
Four States Make Strides on Advancing Energy Codes
Post / December 5, 2018
Massachusetts, California and Rhode Island come out on top in the 2018 State Energy Efficiency Scorecard released this fall. The three states ranked high on six categories including utility programs, transportation, building energy codes, combined heat and power, state initiative and...
Ithaca Leads in New York for Net Zero Energy Building Standards
Post / November 29, 2018
The energy use in buildings across the town and city of Ithaca is responsible for nearly 75% of carbon emissions, according to the local sustainability officials. To reduce its carbon footprint, the two jurisdictions are taking important steps to increase...
Linking Legends
Post / July 20, 2018 / Policy
John Wilson accepting the Jeffrey Johnson Award John Wilson, former Board President of New Buildings Institute, has been awarded the 2018 Jeffrey A. Johnson Award for Excellence in the Advancement Of Building Energy Codes. This award is named in honor...
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
by Ryan M. Colker, Vice President of National Institute of Building Sciences 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....
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...
Energy Codes Must Evolve to Achieve Policy Goals
Post / September 23, 2015
Energy codes are anticipated to play a big role in the building performance targets adopted by many jurisdictions to reduce carbon impacts from the building sector. But as codes target deep efficiencies, conventional code language and enforcement mechanisms face significant...
Codes Make a Difference–A Big Difference
Post / April 6, 2015
Since its inception nearly 18 years ago, NBI has maintained a strong emphasis on energy codes. Current NBI staff and board members continue the focus established early on by the organization’s founders. We know codes make a difference—a big difference....
Vermont Leads the Way
Post / December 30, 2014
What do the State of Vermont and NBI have in common (besides a soft spot for counterculture energy nerds)? I’d answer that both are small in stature but have built legacies around aggressively pushing for codes and policies that promote...
2015 IgCC gives cities and states something to be thankful for
Post / November 25, 2014
As we move toward Thanksgiving this Thursday, the recent adoption of the 2015 International Green Construction Code (IgCC) gives cities and states a lot to be thankful for. Four critical proposals that will drive significant improvements in building energy performance...
The Energy Code Paradox
Post / September 17, 2014
What happens when compliance becomes a barrier to achieving energy performance in buildings? For over fifteen years, New Buildings Institute (NBI) has worked to advance energy codes in jurisdictions around North America. We’ve had some huge wins for higher efficiency...
Persuasive Communications and Building Codes
Post / August 6, 2014
NBI is deeply involved in energy code development in the commercial sector, including pursing an Outcome-Based Compliance Path for the 2015 IgCC. With more than half of U.S. states still with outdated building energy codes, employing the power of persuasive...