Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “energy code”

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.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2017

Texas Residential Energy Code Field Study: Baseline Report

A research project in the state of Texas identified opportunities to reduce homeowner utility bills in residential single-family new construction by increasing compliance with the state energy code. The study was initiated in October 2014; data collection began in March 2015, and continued through October 2015. During this period, research teams visited 133 homes in 30 counties in and around Houston during various stages of construction, resulting in a substantial data set based on observations made directly in the field. Stakeholders in the state agreed that these 30 counties represented the levels of energy codes and enforcement seen across the state. Analysis of the data has led to a better understanding of the energy features present in homes, and, when extrapolated across the entire state, indicates over $16 million in potential annual savings to Texas homeowners that could result from increased code compliance. Public and private entities within the state can use this information to justify and catalyze future investments in energy code training and related energy efficiency programs.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2021

Electric Readiness in Residential Energy Codes (Technical Brief)

This technical brief provides requirements for electric readiness that could be incorporated into model residential energy codes. It provides background on the basis and benefits of the provisions, and model code language that can be plugged into the IECC or adapted into other energy codes.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2019

Final Energy Savings Analysis of the Proposed NYStretch-Energy Code 2018

In 2017, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) developed its 2016 Stretch Code Supplement to the 2016 New York State Energy Conservation Construction Code. Since2017, NYSERDA has continued to develop the 2018 edition, as part of the efforts to achieve a statewide Net Zero Energy Code by 2028. To support this effort, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)conducted energy simulation analysis to quantify the energy savings of proposed commercial provisions of the NYStretch-Energy Code 2018 compared to ANSI/ASHRAE/IES1 Standard 90.1-2013. Specifically, PNNL collaborated with New Buildings Institute (NBI), and developed energy-efficiency measures (EEMs) from national model codes and standards, high-performance building codes and standards, regional energy codes, and measures being proposed as part of the ongoing NYStretch-Energy code development process. PNNL analyzed these measures using whole building energy simulation for selected prototype commercial and multifamily buildings representing buildings in New York State.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
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 OSTI2016

Capturing Energy-Saving Opportunities: Improving Building Efficiency in Rajasthan through Energy Code Implementation

India adopted the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) in 2007. Rajasthan is the first state to make ECBC mandatory at the state level. In collaboration with Malaviya National Institute of Technology (MNIT) Jaipur, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has been working with Rajasthan to facilitate the implementation of ECBC. This report summarizes milestones made in Rajasthan and PNNL's contribution in institutional set-ups, capacity building, compliance enforcement and pilot building construction.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2018

Final Technical Report (FTR): Testing the Relationship of Comprehensive Training to Increased Energy Code Compliance

This report outlines the State of Maryland's contribution to a large national study of residential energy efficiency attainment. The study documents baseline practices in new single-family construction, target areas for improvement relative to the state energy code, and quantify related savings potential. The project team collectively implemented a three-phased approach. Data gathered through phases I and III has been submitted to Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for analysis. Findings available to date are published as PNNL technical reports on the DOE Building Energy Codes Program website with final analysis pending publication later in 2018.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

Opening the Door to Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings with Energy Codes

Building codes represent standard design practice in the construction industry and must continually evolve to account for advancing technologies and innovative practices. Energy codes have historically focused on energy efficiency within buildings and across their systems. However, many of tomorrow's technologies go beyond efficiency and target increased flexibility. These demand flexibility (DF) measures can postpone or reduce building electric load based on price or other grid signals, and include smart appliances, connected lighting, and connected mechanical systems. Expanding codes to enable such grid-interactive efficient building (GEB) has the potential to influence their realization at scale, which will support renewable-energy grid-integration and building-sector decarbonization. However, considering DF measures in code development creates a new set of challenges for codes and the practices contained therein. This paper considers the role of building energy codes in enabling GEB. Specifically, it reviews the status of demand flexibility (DF) measures in current commercial building energy code. It examines the national model code development process and identifies components barring the consideration and inclusion of DF measures - including code scope, characterization and analysis of proposed new prescriptive measures, and accounting for time-of-day and geographic differences in their benefits. The paper presents findings from code development analyses that indicate the cost benefit of DF measures and the limitations associated with current code development conventions. To encourage building flexibility and improved energy resilience moving forward, recommendations are made for removing code development barriers and sanctioning DF measure consideration in future model codes.

Building Energy Codes and Standards, Grid-Interact↗
DOE OSTI2019

Montana Residential Energy Code Field Study

A research project in the state of Montana identified opportunities to reduce homeowner utility bills in residential single-family new construction by increasing compliance with the state energy code. The study was initiated in May 2018; data collection began in June 2018 and continued through September 2018. Analysis of the data has led to a better understanding of the energy features present in homes and identified nearly $192,000 in potential annual savings to Montana homeowners that could result from increased compliance with the Montana Residential Energy Code.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2021

Expanded Energy Credits in Energy Codes (Technical Brief)

This technical brief provides additional energy efficiency measures that go beyond the current prescriptive commercial energy codes. It demonstrates relative savings for multiple measures and shows a base cost effective package by building type and climate zone. An advanced savings package is also shown. Potential building savings for the base package for different building types across climate zones range from 3.9% to 22% of building energy cost, while the advanced package building savings range from 8.4% to 44%. In addition to measure descriptions, this technical brief includes code language that can be adopted by local jurisdictions to implement these measures for new buildings.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Pennsylvania Residential Energy Code Field Study: Baseline Report

A research project in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania identified opportunities to reduce homeowner utility bills in residential single-family new construction by increasing compliance with the state energy code. The study was initiated in October 2014 and continued through July 2015. During this period, research teams visited 171 homes during various stages of construction, resulting in a substantial data set based on observations made directly in the field. Analysis of the data has led to a better understanding of the energy features present in homes, and indicates over $2.7 million in potential annual savings to Pennsylvania homeowners that could result from increased compliance with the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code (and equivalent compliance options). Public and private entities within the state can use this information to justify and catalyze future investments in energy code training and related energy-efficiency programs.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2018

DOE Residential Energy Code Field Study - Pennsylvania

This project consisted of three distinct phases – all focused on residential one- and two-family dwellings and townhouses. Phase 1 included a baseline field study with inspections and performance testing to assess construction practices with respect to the energy code. PNNL used the data to perform EUI and savings potential analyses. Phase 2 consisted of training, education, and outreach to building industry professionals with content based on the findings from Phase 1. Phase 3 was a post-program field study using the same methodology as Phase 1 and was intended to measure the impact of Phase 2. During Phase 1 of the project, PSD collected data from 171 job sites across eastern Pennsylvania, a territory bounded by PECO, PPL, and Met-Ed electric distribution territories, to reach the required 63 “home equivalents” deemed necessary by PNNL for a representative sample. Based on subsequent analysis, four key items were identified as having significant savings potential from improvement in compliance, including duct leakage, above-grade wall insulation (specifically insulation installation quality), foundation insulation, and high-efficacy lighting. About half the total savings potential is from duct leakage, so that was the primary focus. The goal of Phase 2 was to improve upon these key compliance weaknesses through an intensive training, education, and outreach program. PSD dubbed this effort the Penn Energy Codes Program. For Phase 3, PSD obtained a new sample plan from PNNL, obtained permit data from sample municipalities, and made substitutions where necessary. PSD field staff visited 165 job sites to collect the required 504 key observations. PSD submitted all data collection sheets to PNNL for their analysis to determine if there was a measurable change due to Phase 2 activities.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2017

Energy Savings Analysis of the Proposed Revision of the Washington D.C. Non-Residential Energy Code

This report presents the results of an assessment of savings for the proposed Washington D.C. energy code relative to ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010. It includes annual and life cycle savings for site energy, source energy, energy cost, and carbon dioxide emissions that would result from adoption and enforcement of the proposed code for newly constructed buildings in Washington D.C. over a five year period.

Commercial Energy Code↗
DOE OSTI2016

A Perspective of Energy Codes and Regulations for the Buildings of the Future

Today’s building energy codes focus on prescriptive requirements for features of buildings that are directly controlled by the design and construction teams and verifiable by municipal inspectors. Although these code requirements have had a significant impact, they fail to influence a large slice of the building energy use pie – including not only miscellaneous plug loads, cooking equipment and commercial/industrial processes, but the maintenance and optimization of the code-mandated systems as well. Currently, code compliance is verified only through the end of construction, and there are no limits or consequences for the actual energy use in an occupied building. In the future, our suite of energy regulations will likely expand to include building efficiency, energy use or carbon emission budgets over their full life cycle. Intelligent building systems, extensive renewable energy, and a transition from fossil fuel to electric heating systems will likely be required to meet ultra-low-energy targets. This paper lays out the authors’ perspectives on how buildings may evolve over the course of the 21st century and the roles that codes and regulations will play in shaping those buildings of the future.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2020

Paving the Way for Net Zero Energy Codes through Performance Based Approaches

The prescriptive path is the most widely used approach for commercial code compliance in the United States. However, to achieve near-term net zero energy performance that many stakeholders in the buildings industry desire, it is clear that energy codes will need to transition from prescriptive to performance-based approaches. However, that transition is not without potential pitfalls. Among the concerns expressed by stakeholders are added complexity and cost, lack of confidence in energy modeling results, gamesmanship on the part of applicants, lack or qualified reviewers, challenges in promoting de-carbonization, and the inequity of trading long lived envelope efficiency for short lived measures such as building controls. This paper will discuss multiple approaches being evaluated and implemented by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to improve the usability of the performance-based approach for both code compliance and beyond code programs to meet aggressive energy savings targets. A 'system performance' approach provides a simpler approach compared to whole building performance, while keeping tradeoffs limited to specific building systems. A simplified whole-building performance-based approach for small commercial buildings can cost effectively achieve deeper savings for buildings that typically follow the prescriptive compliance approach. Improved reporting and verification processes applied to the traditional performance path can provide greater confidence in simulation results and facilitate adoption of performance-based approaches. Prescriptive packages provide prescriptive solutions while targeting specific performance thresholds. This paper discusses the progress being made with each of these approaches and provides examples of their implementation in energy codes and beyond code programs.

Performance Based Codes, Appendix G, PRM, TSPR, Sy↗
DOE OSTI2017

Alabama Residential Energy Code Field Study: Baseline Report

A research project in the state of Alabama identified opportunities to reduce homeowner utility bills in residential single-family new construction by increasing compliance with the state energy code. The study was initiated in March 2014 and continued through May 2014. During this period, research teams visited 134 homes during various stages of construction, resulting in a substantial data set based on observations made directly in the field. Analysis of the data has led to a better understanding of the energy features present in homes, and indicates nearly $1.3 million in potential savings to Alabama homeowners that could result from increased code compliance. Public and private entities within the state can use this information to justify and catalyze future investments in energy code training and related energy-efficiency programs.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Idaho Residential Energy Code Field Study

A research project in the state of Idaho identified opportunities to reduce homeowner energy costs in residential single-family new construction by increasing compliance with the current state energy code. The study was initiated in January 2018; data collection began in March 2018 and continued through June 2018. During this period, research teams visited 127 homes during various stages of construction, resulting in a collection of data based on observations made directly in the field. Analysis of the data has led to a better understanding of the energy features present in homes and indicates nearly $500,000 in potential annual savings to Idaho homeowners that could result from increased compliance with the Idaho Energy Conservation Code.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗
DOE OSTI2021

HVAC System Performance for Energy Codes (Technical Brief)

The prescriptive path is likely the most widely used approach for commercial code compliance in the United States. Though easy to implement, the prescriptive approach does not discriminate between high-performing and poorly performing heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) system configurations that are both minimally compliant. To meet aggressive energy and carbon reduction goals, energy codes will need to transition from prescriptive to performance-based approaches, a transition that is riddled with several challenges. HVAC System Performance is a discipline performance path and provides a simpler solution to HVAC system evaluation compared to whole building performance, while keeping tradeoffs limited to specific building systems. The Total System Performance Ratio (TSPR) is a metric for evaluation of overall system efficiency instead of individual component efficiency, a solution that could also eventually facilitate the transition to a 100% performance-based code structure. TSPR is a ratio that compares the annual heating and cooling load of a building to the annual energy consumed by the building’s HVAC system. A web-based calculation tool has been developed for determining a building’s TSPR. Already incorporated into the 2018 Washington State Energy Code, this approach has also been evaluated by the ASHRAE Standard 90.1 Project Committee and has the potential to provide a comprehensive performance-based approach for HVAC system evaluation and analysis

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗