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

This document is meant as an introductory brief for jurisdictions working on BPS to develop strategies, policies, and programs that address housing affordability and counteract displacement in that context. There is no one-size-fits all solution to addressing the myriad of issues related to housing affordability across jurisdictions, but this document seeks to describe the landscape of considerations and propose vetted paths forward.

This needs assessment provides the industry needs to establish and implement the BPS from the market perspective.

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.

To support policymakers and interested professionals in this process, ASHRAE convened a BPS Working Group under its Task Force on Building Decarbonization (TFBD) that is working to produce a Technical Resource Guide that guides jurisdictions through the target-setting process and outlines the available methodology options. The guide also provides additional background in metric selection.

This document developed by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Task Force for Building Decarbonization provides an overview of the BPS development process, including considerations such as performance target-setting, implementation and enforcement timelines, equitable policy application, and compliance support. ASHRAE also compiled a list of BPS Resources and PublicationsPDF that provide an overview of BPS policy elements, performance metrics, relation with new construction, and available compliance tools.

The Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN) has prepared a framework for local governments, community and industry stakeholders interested in building performance standards that provides guidance on how to plan and coordinate the different policy components to achieve equitable outcomes. The USDN has also hosted a series of BPS webinars that are available on demand that provide background for local governments, community members, and industry professionals.

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).