Although commercial and institutional buildings vary greatly from one to another in size, use, and type of construction, there are general recommendations for creating energy-efficient commercial buildings in a hot and humid climate.

While performance elements tell employees what they have to do, the standards tell them how well they have to do it. The first article in this series defined and reviewed the characteristics of critical, non-critical, and additional performance elements. This article reviews the principles of writing good standards that can be used effectively to appraise employee performance of those elements.

The standards experts at NBI explain how building owners and developers can get ready for ambitious clean-energy ordinances happening in cities and states throughout the U.S.

Building performance standards are a promising approach aiming to achieve a highly effective, long-term, technology-neutral method to improve building performance. This brief explores the power and potential of performance mandates to make transformational changes in building performance, and the relationship between green buildings and BPS.