This report examines ways to include demand flexibility in state and local building policies and programs, such as benchmarking and transparency, ratings and labeling, and building performance standards.

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.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) developed a comprehensive suite of tools for accessing, managing, analyzing, and sharing building energy data. This website describes how they can be used to support BPS policies, one of many possible use cases

This report provides a summary of U.S. Benchmarking & Transparency (B&T) policy design and implementation characteristics, reports results and impacts for jurisdictions with B&T policies, and discusses opportunities for increasing the efficacy of B&T policies, as well as suggested areas for further research. Put together by DOE's Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI) and Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory (LBNL).

This document helps utilities identify new, untapped datasets that are emerging related to the energy performance of buildings, and how this information can be applied to expand market intelligence and create business value. This is a deliverable from DOE's Better Building Energy Data Accelerator (BBEDA), a two-year partnership with cities and utilities to improve energy efficiency by making energy data more accessible to building owners.

This matrix compares the requirements of building performance standards in cities and states around the U.S. It is part of a suite of matrices that provide quick, high-level comparisons of policy types across jurisdictions.

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.

The Building Decarbonization Code is a groundbreaking tool aiming to deliver carbon neutral performance. The Version 1.2 code language from NBI serves as a building decarbonization overlay to the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and is now compatible with ASHRAE 90.1. It is designed to help states and cities working to mitigate carbon resulting from energy use in the built environment, which accounts for 39% of U.S. emissions.