This Program In a Box offers ideas on how State Energy Offices can utilize federal funding for residential energy code compliance field studies. This is a resource for creating a request for proposals, developing methodology, and implementing studies. Section 40511 of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) provides $225 million for competitive grants to implement energy codes.

Benefits for States that Conduct Energy Code Compliance Field Studies

• Understanding what percentage of buildings are out of compliance can be used to improve training for building officials, home builders, home energy raters, and construction trades workers.
• Studies enable State Energy Offices to determine the compliance rate, and specific compliance issues.
• Up to date compliance data is valuable. It can serve as a basis to:
  • Target training.
  • Inform development of new codes and implementation decisions.
  • Promote building safety, efficiency and occupant health.
  • Design future workforce development programs.
• A consistent methodology for conducting energy code field studies will improve data accuracy and reduce the amount of work needed to complete future studies and allow tracking over time.
• Setting up a data tracking system will reduce the administrative burden for both the municipalities and the State Energy Office.

How Communities Benefit from State Energy Offices Conducting Energy Code Compliance Field Studies

• Conducting a baseline of energy use and code compliance of a statistic sample of residential buildings allows communities to tailor training and outreach to improve compliance.
• In this set-up, the State Energy Office provides resource-scarce communities expertise and financial support for designing and executing successful code studies.   

Examples Used to Develop This Program In a Box

Thank you to the team members at Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance, Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, and the Department of Energy who generously shared their knowledge and experiences for this Energy Code Compliance Field Studies Program In a Box.

This Program In a Box draws on experiences from a multi-state study led by the Department of Energy (DOE) beginning in 2014 on energy code compliance. The study was a field-based way of evaluating challenges and opportunities with energy code compliance at the state level. Eight states participated: Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Additional states conducted studies based on the DOE methodology including Idaho, Illinois, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Oregon, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Studies are underway in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. This study involved a baseline to evaluate typical energy use in single-family residential buildings. Following the baseline study, education and training and outreach opportunities were identified.

A second study was conducted to evaluate the change in energy use as a result of the education and training efforts.

See the state findings here: