Re-Inventing Building Energy Codes as Technology and Market Drivers

摘要

Global climate change, with a time frame of decades not years, encourages policy makersrnto pay more attention to new construction in addition to the retrofitting of existing buildings andrnto upgrading the efficiency of fast-turnover appliances and lighting. Increased interest inrnadvanced building energy codes is reflected in proposed federal legislation to set multiyearrnenergy code targets leading to zero-energy buildings. The expectation of continuous, stagedrnimprovements in building codes – coupled with voluntary market transformation – can help drivernlong-term demand for energy-efficient building designs, construction materials, and installedrnequipment.rnFor building energy codes to serve as market-drivers not just followers, we need tornrevitalize the code development process; strengthen incentives and mandates for code adoption,rncompliance, and enforcement; and encourage beyond-code building practices. Increasinglyrnstringent goals for energy codes will challenge current processes of code development, adoption,rncompliance, and enforcement, and may require a transition from prescriptive to performancebasedrncode compliance, or perhaps a mixed system.rnIn the future, incorporating "building life-cycle performance" into energy codes wouldrnrequire accounting for building or component lifetimes and reaching beyond the design stage tornaddress construction quality, acceptance testing, long-term performance, and the role ofrnoccupants. Beyond today’s common metric, annual energy use per square meter of floor space,rnfuture codes could address: electricity load shape and demand-responsiveness, environmentalrnimpacts, embodied energy, metrics based on occupancy instead of (or in addition to) conditionedrnfloorspace, code requirements or credits for features that enable future technology upgrades,rnsubdivision- and community-scale energy systems, "locational" efficiency, and "progressivernefficiency" criteria that require higher performance from larger homes and buildings.