View a free guide to energy codes and building performance standards, including model energy codes and case studies.

A report outlining programs and tax incentives funded by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)

Learn about strategic energy management initiatives across the country

This Life-Cycle Energy Performance Framework for Cities provides policymakers a tool to look across building codes, incentive and utility programs, and post-occupancy/operations policies, to identify potential policies and triggers that can be deployed to impact building energy use.

Building Performance Standards (BPS) are a key policy mechanism to significantly and speedily reduce the energy use and emissions of existing buildings. BPS is primarily being implemented by cities and states, as a means to reach their climate goals. Policymakers in cities planning a BPS are grappling with a host policy design questions

This policy brief from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) features policy goals and benefits, steps for design and adoption, and case studies of local initiatives for commercial and multifamily buildings.

This document provides jurisdictions with a new approach to shift their focus towards actual, measurable energy results and provides guidance for incorporating an outcome-based compliance path into current energy codes. The guide includes draft regulatory language as a framework around which jurisdictions can begin to align their energy goals through their building codes

The 20% Stretch Code Provisions measures are the first outcome of a larger project that is focused directly on the technical development of stretch codes and standards, and on support for jurisdictions in adopting and implementing these policies. As jurisdictions move forward with the adoption of codes and policies that support building stock performance improvement, a set of increasingly stringent performance metrics are anticipated, ranging from a 20% improvement over baseline code performance to a policy that delivers zero energy performance in buildings.

Moving Energy Codes Forward: A Guide for Cities and States provides critical steps to achieve significant code improvements through the adoption of stretch codes and provides a practical framework for implementing advanced codes and outcome policies. It offers guidance, resources and examples of advanced code adoption based on New Buildings Institute's stretch code development and adoption experience working with states and communities.

This summary document describes a set of code strategies that represent a 20% performance improvement for commercial buildings over the ASHRAE 90.1-2013 code baseline (and approximately similar savings over the IECC 2015 baseline).

As leading cities and states seek to meet their aggressive climate, energy, and decarbonization goals, they are turning increasingly to mandatory policies that require improved energy and emissions performance across their existing building stock. The most comprehensive of these policies is the BPS, in which performance thresholds are set that building owners must meet at a specified time or when a triggering event occurs. A BPS can address a range of emissions, energy and grid-related goals. This paper examines technical approaches used to set the key metrics for both buildings and fuels in performance standard legislation.