In the United States, Codes and Standards are developed at state and local levels and it is up to each state to develop it’s own plan for enforcement of these codes and standards as well as plans to collaborate with utility companies to assist in compliance with these standards . Across 61 the board in the U.S, energy codes the residential sector and the industrial sector are regulated separately. Beyond this national requirement, it is up to states/municipalities to use any existing codes as they see fit . As the nation’s leading performer on environmental regulations, it is no 62 surprise that in 1978 California was the first state to include energy requirements in it’s building codes.
Unfortunately, not all states have the ambitious energy saving codes that California has implemented. There are currently 16 States whose building codes are outdated and undemanding in their energy standards for buildings . Therefore, it is not an uncommon trend for municipali63 -ties and local jurisdictions to develop their own building codes that, in larger ci-ties, are often more demanding than state codes and standards . For example, Portland’s Green Building policy 64 makes it mandatory for the new construction and major renovation of all city facilities to meet certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards . In this respect, 65 the standard and code requirements are not unlike those measures in the 2012 EU directive re-garding public agencies and the necessity for them to lead by example.
Parejo-Navajas, Teresa. A Legal Approach to the Improvement of Energy Efficiency Measures for the Existing
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Building Stock in the United States Based on the European Experience. Seattle Journal of Environmental Law.
Volume 5 1 Issue I Article 14. 5-31-2015 p395
Building Codes for Energy Efficiency, EPA (Mar. 27, 2015), .http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/documents/suca/
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buildingcodesfactsheet.pdf.
See, 57: Parejo-Navajas, Teresa. A Legal Approach to the Improvement of Energy Efficiency Measures for the
63
Existing Building Stock in the United States Based on the European Experience, p.396
Cities for a Sustainable Future. United Nations Department of Economic and social Affairs. May, 22, 2014.
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http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/ecosoc/cities-for-a-sustainable-future.html
ENB-9.01 - Green Building Policy. GREEN BUILDING POLICY. Binding City Policy. BCP-ENB-9.01. http://
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www.portlandoregon.gov/citycode/?c=34835&a=54355
Due to the lack of harmonized building codes, compliance with building codes and stan-dards is a constant issue. Most states have implemented building codes and stanstan-dards intended for new buildings, but most lack any retrofit regulations pertaining to existing buildings and it is in this way that Portland is the exception rather than the rule for building codes in the U.S . The 66 fact that building codes and standards and compliance with them would improve if implemented federally, is an understatement. In addition to this, if technical/financial assistance was provided to states by the federal government, an increase in building retrofits would undoubtedly be the result. However, given the hodgepodge nature of current U.S. building code, it is necessary to look at the states/municipalities with the most ambitious energy efficient building standards so that cities/states with weaker codes can aim to imitate a similar legal approach to this issue.
See, 57: Parejo-Navajas, Teresa. A Legal Approach to the Improvement of Energy Efficiency Measures for the
66
Existing Building Stock in the United States Based on the European Experience, P. 397
IV. REGULATORY INSTRUMENTS IN THE U.S.
The main regulatory instruments that a state can set are codes and standards that are gen-erally determined via the auditing method discussed above. The stands set minimum efficiency requirements for new buildings and buildings undergoing renovation. These codes and standards are helpful in that they set baseline requirements however, they generally focus on one area of energy performance (such as thermal resistance) rather than the performance of the whole build-ing . A more multidimensional approach to settbuild-ing codes and standards would be through 67 benchmarking.
Benchmarking constitutes the comparison of the energy performance of a building or building type to another building or building type. Benchmarking is a more progressive form of estimating a building’s energy consumption than it’s counterpart, baselining. Baselining simply looks at a single building’s current energy performance and compares it with it’s past mance. While the latter only looks to one building as an indication of improved energy perfor-mance, the former is inclusive of best practice buildings, thereby providing more information to the engineers/architectures involved in the retrofit process . Energy Performance Indicators 68 (EPI) and Energy Use Intensity (EUI), both of which calculate the amount of energy used per floor area. Once the data has been collected on the energy performance of a building, a database is created via audits . Under European regulation, “energy audits are systematic procedures 69 used to identify, quantify and report existing energy consumption profiles and energy saving op-portunities in buildings, industrial or commercial operations or instillations, and in private or public services.” As a part of Energy Management Systems, energy audits are included in plans that establish energy efficiency objectives and strategies. The fiscal advantage of doing a de-tailed energy audit is that it informs building owners about pay-back periods that would result
BenchMarking and Energy Savings:Data trends EnergyStar Portfolio Manager. https://www.energystar.gov/ia/
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business/downloads/datatrends/DataTrends_Savings_20121002.pdf?3d9b-91a5
Building Energy Use Benchmarking Guidance. EISA SECTION 432 – Benchmarking of Federal Facilities (42
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U.S.C. 8253 Subsection (f), Use of Energy and Water Efficiency Measures in Federal Buildings) April 15, 2010 See, 57: Parejo-Navajas, Teresa. Legal Approach to the Energy Efficient Measures for Existing Building Stock in
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the United States Based on the European Experience p.363-365
from energy improvements. Once the energy performance of a building is measured, it is classi-fied based on it’s level of performance the minimum of which, is set by law. The best practices level is defined as a reasonably achievable level of energy performance with a quality design and practice and the practical use of subsidies . Finally the state of the art level describes the maxi70 -mum level of energy performance to be achieved in future with the best available technology.
Once the energy performance level and measures for improvements of a building have been identified via audits, the next phase is the implementation of the identified best measures.
Compliance and enforcement of best practices will help ensure this implementation and thus acts as a promising source of leverage for the regulatory sector. Regulatory instruments are currently one of four main instruments for promoting energy efficiency in buildings at the global level.
The other three instruments for promoting energy efficiency in buildings are, economic and mar-ket based instruments, financial instruments and incentives, and support information and volun-tary actions.