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This is the 2017 installment of this series. Click here for the 2016 update. If the 12 states in our region were NBA teams and they scored points with home energy ratings instead of layups and three-pointers, Massachusetts and Maryland would be the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors. Maine would be our Boston Celtics. Vermont? They’d be the San Antonio Spurs. These might sound…

Here’s a hypothetical situation (perhaps a strictly hypothetical one if you’re a millennial like me): Imagine you want to buy a home. You know you want A bedrooms, B baths, and about C square feet (which is just enough room for yourself and D, plus E and F, and maybe a guest, G). You have your heart set on features H, I, and J in your kitchen and living room. And to ensure that getting to…

This is the 2016 installment of this series. Click here for our previous update.   What are building energy codes? Unlike automobiles, appliances, or consumer electronics, buildings constructed today will still have a considerable impact on U.S. energy use 50 to 100 years from now. Building energy codes, which are typically set at the state level, improve the financial return and durability…

With Opening Day about to ring in another season of me rooting for my hometown New York Yankees while embedded in Red Sox Nation here at NEEP, I made the following realization: our region is the Yankees of building high efficiency homes. Think about it: Both can boast long traditions of excellence. Both, admittedly, have more financial muscle than most of their competition. And now, both are…

Since our last update for Highlights in August, the following code adoption progress has occurred: 2015 IECC adoption: Vermont and Maryland became the first states in the nation to adopt the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC)—the latest and most energy efficient model code. Vermont’s new code was adopted in December and became fully effective in March. Vermont is also in the…

On December 5, Vermont finalized an update to its Residential and Commercial Building Energy Standards (RBES and CBES), thereby becoming the first state in the country to adopt* a building energy code based on the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code (2015 IECC). The 2015 IECC is the newest and most efficient version of the IECC, a model code used by the vast majority of the country (…

Last month, NEEP held its annual full day Regional Building Energy Codes Leadership Group meeting in Philadelphia at the Consortium for Building Energy Innovation (CBEI). NEEP’s Codes Leadership Group is a forum for information dissemination and exchange between building energy code stakeholders in our region, including state and municipal agencies, utilities, building officials,…

For more background, see our earlier 2014 Building Code Preview Unlike automobiles, appliances, or consumer electronics, buildings constructed today will still have an impact on U.S. energy use 50 to 100 years from now—if not longer. Building energy codes improve the energy efficiency of these long-term investments by setting minimum requirements for new and renovated buildings. In…