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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Methodology to Establish Performance Targets for Building Energy Codes

This report explains the underlying development of the U.S. NZE building sector performance targets reported in Federal Register Notice XX. This document also includes NZE performance targets for U.S. states, which were developed following the same procedures used to develop the national values. These national and state targets are intended to support the establishment and attainment of NZE goals over time. Where residential and commercial building energy code compliance mechanisms apply to new buildings and major renovations and dictate performance requirements, these targets reflect the recommended, minimum levels of performance. Appendix A provides the performance values and targets by U.S. state for residential and commercial buildings. These include each state’s adopted energy code performance, current published MEC performance value, and a nominal NZE code compliance performance target. The current code and NZE values can be compared to the state adopted code value to indicate the level of advancement needed to move towards recommended NZE building performance levels. Additional supplemental resources are available to support states and local governments ready to move from setting NZE policy goals to adopting NZE codes. More information about these resources and the actions states can take to achieve NZE buildings with energy codes are provided in the body of this document.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2024

Data Driven Commercial Building Energy Code Compliance and Technology Inventory for New York City

Building Performance Standards (BPS) are gaining national traction. A BPS will require new processes in the design, construction, and operation of buildings that take the occupants into account and enable predictive analysis to ensure compliance with current and future GHG emissions caps. In New York City, most buildings over 25,000 square feet will be regulated by a BPS starting in 2024, regardless of whether it is new construction permitted under current energy codes or an existing building. This research is one of the first to begin the evaluation of a long-term series of building policies in the context of an open data ecosystem, in cooperation with city agencies. Existing building policies enacted in NYC have ranged from building energy benchmarking and labeling to energy audits to the regulation of GHG emission in buildings. Through the development of a dataset related to building technologies and energy consumption, this project can help to evaluate if meaningful conclusions can be drawn for the data that has been largely self-reported in compliance with city regulations. This project will also provide lessons learned from a deep dive into these types of datasets to provide best practices for municipalities or states seeking to embark on policies like those enacted in NYC. In addition, a Building Automation System (BAS) Stretch Standard of Care (SSOC) for owners, designers, and building operators will enable the measurement and predictive analysis of energy consumption and GHG emissions at the plant, system, or component level, in anticipation of regulated GHG limits on buildings based on energy use. The SSOC is expected to be suitable for use on a national level. The primary feature of an SSOC is a standardized format for a set of BAS points that can be used to control and to gather data from individual plants, systems, or components that are related to building energy consumption. This project examined how measurements compare to prescriptive or simulation-based energy code targets, finding little correlation between predictive 8760-hour energy modeling and actual energy consumption for a small sample (n=27) of buildings constructed after 2015. Other analysis found that, while large multifamily housing (MFH) buildings showed a general trend similar to predicted reductions in energy use from the implementation of model commercial energy codes, this trend was not evident in the office, K-12 school, and hotel use groups in NYC. No upward or downward trends in energy consumption were found when buildings were grouped by size. Energy audit data were analyzed and it appears that there is bias by audit company on measures recommended to clients. Further research should be performed to cross-analyze this with other attributes, such as building size, vintage, and number of stories. Analysis found that for 281 buildings that were permitted and completed after 2015 and had submitted benchmarking data in 2022, between 81% and 96% (by use group) were found to be in compliance with the 2024 to 2029 NYC BPS emission caps, and between 55% and 89% were in compliance with the 2030-2034 caps. This work is beneficial to the public in helping policymakers and building stakeholders better understand the wide-ranging implications of a BPS.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Impacts of Model Building Energy Codes

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, funded by DOE, conducted an assessment of the prospective impacts of national model building energy codes from 2010 through 2040. A previous PNNL study evaluated the impact of the Building Energy Codes Program; this study looked more broadly at overall code impacts. This report describes the methodology used for the assessment and presents the impacts in terms of energy savings, consumer cost savings, and reduced CO 2 emissions at the state level and at aggregated levels.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Adopting occupancy-based HVAC controls in commercial building energy codes: Analysis of cost-effectiveness and decarbonization potential

Recent research has shown the energy-saving potential of occupancy-based HVAC controls (OBCs) in commercial buildings. However, building energy codes have not fully adopted this technology. This study aims to evaluate the cost-effectiveness and decarbonization benefits of OBCs and provide guidance for integrating occupancy sensors into building energy code development. To this end, a parametric simulation using EnergyPlus and a nationwide cost-effectiveness analysis are carried out considering three building types and 40 representative cities in the U.S. Here, the findings reveal that the current cost-effectiveness performance of OBCs is limited due to the high cost of occupancy sensors. However, incorporating the societal cost of carbon factor in future energy and environmental policy could greatly enhance the actual cost-effectiveness performance. Besides, a reduction in the cost of occupancy sensors to approximately 60% of the current price level could also greatly shorten the discounted payback period of OBCs. Additionally, OBCs demonstrate significant potential in building decarbonization, with potential CO 2 emissions savings of more than 5.56 million metric tons across the three building types and 40 selected cities. Finally, policy implications are provided to guide the incorporation of occupancy-based HVAC controls in future energy codes.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2011

Synthesis Report on the Implementation of Building Energy Codes in China

China is the new leader in the global construction market, with $1,000 billion invested into new construction projects in 2010. With its already significant building stock, high construction rate of new buildings, and strong governmental commitment to improving building energy efficiency, China is positioned to have great influence on global building energy use in the years to come. Building energy efficiency was first addressed in the mid 1980s, after China developed its new political doctrine of “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” in the late 1970s and launched its unprecedented economic reform. Since then, the development of building energy efficiency policy has gone through into five stages: (1) early research and preparation, (2) pilots and demonstrations, (3) institution development and goal setting, (4) goal implementation, and (5) development and implementation of an array of policies and projects promoting building energy efficiency (Chapter 2). Building energy standards and codes are one important policy instrument targeted by Chinese government. Over three decades of governmental efforts, China has successfully established a comprehensive system of building energy standards and codes. The system covers the life cycle process of a building project, from design, construction and acceptance, inspection, evaluation, modification, products and selection of building materials to building operation. This project, the DOS project, is focused on the implementation of four building energy codes: three of which are design standards (two for residential buildings and one for public/commercial) and one is a code of construction and acceptance (Chapter 3). The current implementation status of building energy codes in China is a tale of two extremes: while there is no implementation in rural areas, the implementation in urban areas is very encouraging. The compliance rates of building energy codes in both the design and construction stages in the inspected large- and mid-size cities were a stunning 98% and 90%, respectively, in 2009. The impressive compliance rates come from establishing an implementation system that consists of a complete loop of the monitoring and inspection subsystem: building design companies, building inspection companies, construction companies, construction inspection companies, testing companies and labs (all of them are third parties), and semi-governmental quality supervision stations to oversee the implementation process (Sections 4.1 and 4.2). Besides the unique, active engagement of third parties, China’s implementation practices are also equipped with strict penalties for violations (Section 4.3), annual inspection for building energy efficiency (Section 4.4), and comprehensive national title exams for key stakeholders (Section 4.5.1). So, what are the challenges faced by key stakeholders when they implement building energy codes? Through stakeholder meetings, focus group meetings, training seminars, onsite construction visits, and personal communications, the project team concluded that training and information dissemination is the ignored, under-invested, and weak component in China’s current implementation practices (Section 6.1).

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Feedbacks from Focus Group Meeting on Training and Implementation of Building Energy Codes in China

A focus group meeting is a very effective quality research approach to collect information on a specific project. Through focus group meetings at both Changchun and Ningbo in August 2010, the project team gained a more complete understandings of key stakeholders (such as their education level), their training needs and expectations, key factors influencing their decision making, and incurred implementation difficulties. In addition, the meeting helped the project team (especially PNNL) improve its understanding of the implementation status of building energy codes in other regions (such as small cities and counties neighboring to urban areas, small townships and rural areas distant from urban areas). The collected feedbacks will serve as important input not only for better design of training materials and the development of an on-line training website, but also for development of follow-up projects to promote building energy codes in China.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2010

Enforcing Building Energy Codes in China: Progress and Comparative Lessons

From 1995 to 2005, building energy use in China increased more rapidly than the world average. China has been adding 0.4 to 1.6 billion square meters of floor space annually , making it the world’s largest market for new construction. In fact, by 2020, China is expected to comprise half of all new construction. In response to this, China has begun to make important steps towards achieving building energy efficiency, including the implementation of building energy standards that requires new buildings to be 65% more efficient than buildings from the early 1980s. Making progress on reducing building energy use requires both a comprehensive code and a robust enforcement system. The latter – the enforcement system – is a particularly critical component for assuring that a building code has an effect. China has dramatically enhanced its enforcement system in the past two years, with more detailed requirements for ensuring enforcement and new penalties for non-compliance. We believe that the U.S. and other developed countries could benefit from learning about the multiple checks and the documentation required in China. Similarly, some of the more user-friendly enforcement approaches developed in the U.S. and elsewhere may be useful for China as it strives to improve enforcement in rural and smaller communities. In this article, we provide context to China’s building codes enforcement system by comparing it to the U.S. Among some of the enforcement mechanisms we look at are testing and rating procedures, compliance software, and training and public information.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2018

Residential Building Energy Code Field Study

This document presents a methodology for assessing baseline energy efficiency in new single-family residential buildings and quantifying related savings potential. The approach was developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Energy Codes Program with the objective of assisting states as they assess energy efficiency in residential buildings and implementation of their building energy codes, as well as to target areas for improvement through energy codes and broader energy-efficiency programs. It is also intended to facilitate a consistent and replicable approach to research studies of this type and establish a transparent data set to represent baseline construction practices across U.S. states.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2012

An Analysis of Statewide Adoption Rates of Building Energy Code by Local Jurisdictions

The purpose of this study is to generally inform the U.S. Department of Energy’s Building Energy Codes Program of the local, effective energy code adoption rate for a sample set of 21 states, some which have adopted statewide codes and some that have not. Information related to the residential energy code adoption process and status at the local jurisdiction was examined for each of the states. Energy code status information was gathered for approximately 2,800 jurisdictions, which effectively covered approximately 80 percent of the new residential building construction in the 21 states included in the study.

Building Energy Codes↗
DOE OSTI2017

Development of Automated Procedures to Generate Reference Building Models for ASHRAE Standard 90.1 and India’s Building Energy Code and Implementation in OpenStudio

This paper describes a software system for automatically generating a reference (baseline) building energy model from the proposed (as-designed) building energy model. This system is built using the OpenStudio Software Development Kit (SDK) and is designed to operate on building energy models in the OpenStudio file format.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2011

Building Energy Codes: Air Leakage Guide

Meeting the Air Leakage Requirements of the 2012 IECC provides a resource for understanding the requirements in the 2012 IECC to limit air leakage through a building's thermal envelope, and guidance on how to meet these requirements. It also provides information from Building America's Air Sealing Guide, best practices, and case studies on homes that currently are meeting the requirements. Finally, it provides information critical to understanding how to conduct a required blower door test to assess the actual air leakage rate of the home, report the results, and validate energy code compliance. To enhance the connection of the information to the relevant codes, the 2012 IECC and relevant 2012 International Residential Code requirements are referenced throughout the guide.

Energy efficiency, home comfort, building envelope↗
DOE OSTI2011

Roof-top solar energy potential under performance-based building energy codes: The case of Spain

The quantification at regional level of the amount of energy (for thermal uses and for electricity) that can be generated by using solar systems in buildings is hindered by the availability of data for roof area estimation. In this note, we build on an existing geo-referenced method for determining available roof area for solar facilities in Spain to produce a quantitative picture of the likely limits of roof-top solar energy. The installation of solar hot water systems (SHWS) and photovoltaic systems (PV) is considered. After satisfying up to 70% (if possible) of the service hot water demand in every municipality, PV systems are installed in the remaining roof area. Results show that, applying this performance-based criterion, SHWS would contribute up to 1662 ktoe/y of primary energy (or 68.5% of the total thermal-energy demand for service hot water), while PV systems would provide 10 T W h/y of electricity (or 4.0% of the total electricity demand). (author)

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

An Analysis of Building Energy Code Statewide Adoption Rates by Local Jurisdiction

The purpose of this study is to quantify the energy code adoption rate by local jurisdictions from a sample set of 21 states. Some of the states within this sample have statewide energy codes, while others do not. Using construction starts and weighting results by localities that have or have not adopted energy codes, the findings can suggest a means of identifying which states have “effectively” adopted statewide codes through local adoption and enforcement.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Commercial Building Energy Code Field Study (Final Report)

What is the dollar value of increasing compliance with the energy code? Ultimately, this is the question that policy makers, funders, and program implementers care about. With this in mind, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) developed a new methodology capable of determining how much energy cost savings could potentially be gained through better compliance with the code (Rosenberg et al. 2016). On March 2, 2016 DOE issued Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) Number DE-FOA-0001532, requesting proposals to develop and test a methodology for identifying the commercial energy code requirements that can provide the maximum cost-effective energy and cost savings through increased compliance. Awarded to the Institute for Market Transformation, this report summarizes the development and testing of a commercial code compliance methodology, including a summary of results, statistical analysis of sample, and best practices for others implementing a commercial energy code compliance field study.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗