This Program In a Box offers ideas on how State Energy Offices can utilize federal funding for residential energy code compliance field studies. This is a resource for creating a request for proposals, developing methodology, and implementing studies. Section 40511 of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) provides $225 million for competitive grants to implement energy codes.

Benefits for States that Conduct Energy Code Compliance Field Studies

  • Understanding what percentage of buildings are out of compliance can be used to improve training for building officials, home builders, home energy raters, and construction trades workers.
  • Studies enable State Energy Offices to determine the compliance rate, and specific compliance issues.
  • Up to date compliance data is valuable. It can serve as a basis to:
    • Target training.
    • Inform development of new codes and implementation decisions.
    • Promote building safety, efficiency and occupant health.
    • Design future workforce development programs.
  • A consistent methodology for conducting energy code field studies will improve data accuracy and reduce the amount of work needed to complete future studies and allow tracking over time.
  • Setting up a data tracking system will reduce the administrative burden for both the municipalities and the State Energy Office.

How Communities Benefit from State Energy Offices Conducting Energy Code Compliance Field Studies

  • Conducting a baseline of energy use and code compliance of a statistic sample of residential buildings allows communities to tailor training and outreach to improve compliance.
  • In this set-up, the State Energy Office provides resource-scarce communities expertise and financial support for designing and executing successful code studies.   

Examples Used to Develop This Program In a Box

Thank you to the team members at Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance, Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, and the Department of Energy who generously shared their knowledge and experiences for this Energy Code Compliance Field Studies Program In a Box.

This Program In a Box draws on experiences from a multi-state study led by the Department of Energy (DOE) beginning in 2014 on energy code compliance. The study was a field-based way of evaluating challenges and opportunities with energy code compliance at the state level. Eight states participated: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Additional states conducted studies based on the DOE methodology including Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Studies are underway in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. This study involved a baseline to evaluate typical energy use in single-family residential buildings. Following the baseline study, education and training and outreach opportunities were identified.

A second study was conducted to evaluate the change in energy use as a result of the education and training efforts.

See the state findings here:

Findings for Original Eight Participating States:Findings for States Conducting Studies Later Using DOE Methodology
Alabama Idaho
Arkansas Illinois
Georgia Michigan
Kentucky Missouri
Maryland Montana
North Carolina Nebraska
Pennsylvania Oregon
Texas Tennessee
Virginia
West Virginia
StateStudy DateProject TeamFunding Provided by:
AlabamaMarch 2014-May 2014Institute for Market Transformation (IMT)

Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA)

Institute for Building Technology and Safety

Calhoun Community College

Cadmus

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
DOE Building Energy Codes Program
ArkansasMay 2015-October 2015Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA)

Advanced Energy

PNNL
DOE Building Energy Codes Program
GeorgiaApril 2015-November 2015SEEA

Southface

PNNL
DOE Building Energy Codes Program
KentuckyApril 2015-August 2015Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA)

Kentucky Department of Housing, Buildings and Construction (DHBC),

Kentucky Department for Energy Development and Independence (DEDI),

Kentucky Circuit Rider,

Cadmus

PNNL
DOE Building Energy Codes Program
MarylandJanuary 2015-July 2015Maryland Energy Administration (MEA)

Newport Partners

Edge Energy

PNNL
DOE Building Energy Codes Program
North CarolinaJanuary 2015-September 2015Appalachian State University Energy Center

The Market Edge, LLC

reNew Home

Above and Beyond Energy

MSA Marketing

PNNL
DOE Building Energy Codes Program
PennsylvaniaOctober 2014-July 2015Performance Systems Development (PSD)

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP)

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED)

The Pennsylvania Construction Codes Academy (PCCA)

The Pennsylvania Building Officials Conference (PENNBOC) and its local chapters

PNNL

The Pennsylvania Association of Building Code Officials (PABCO)

Lancaster County Code Officials (LanCode)
The Pennsylvania Association of Code Officials (PACO)

The ICC Liberty Chapter of Philadelphia
DOE Building Energy Codes Program
TexasOctober 2014-October 2015National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO)

South-central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource (SPEER)

PNNL
DOE Building Energy Codes Program
IdahoJanuary 2018-June 2018Idaho’s circuit rider

Cadmus

The Northwest Energy Efficiency Associate (NEEA)

PNNL
NEEA
MontanaMay 2018-September 2018NEEA

Cadmus

PNNL
NEEA
OregonNovember 2019-Febraury 2020TRC

NEEA

PNNL
NEEA
TennesseeSeptember 2017-July 2018SEEA

Southface

PNNL
DOE Building Energy Codes Program
VirginiaAugust 2017-May 2018SEEA

Viridiant

Conway Energy

GCI Energy Consultants

Think Little

Ecovative Energy

Wheat Energy
DOE Building Energy Codes Program