The 1st Annual Midwest Regional Building Energy Codes Conference was held on August 31-September 1, 2010 in Chicago. It was attended by 24 guests representing state code officials, state energy officials, utility representatives, energy code advocates, manufacturers, energy efficiency program administrators, and architects.
The conference was held with the intention of developing a regional approach to promoting the adoption and improving compliance with the energy code, and bringing together stakeholders in the Midwest to focus on building energy code issues.
Conference Topics
Topics that were discussed at the 1st Annual Midwest Regional Building Energy Codes Conference included:
- Discussion of General Code Process
Brief description of how codes are developed/adopted/enforced
- Status of National Process
Quick overview of the ICC and ASHRAE Process. Relationship to state/local work.
- Status of Midwest States
Review of code adoption in the Midwest states. Description of enforcement including training and certification.
- Codes Policy
Discussion of the main aspects of energy codes policy including code development, adoption, compliance, and energy measurement.
- Adoption Goals
Discussion of goals for adoption such as automatic adoption and stretch codes
- Adoption Barriers
Discussion of barriers to meeting building energy code adoption goals; strategies to overcoming barriers to adoption
- Compliance Goals
Discussion of goals for energy code compliance and compliance initiatives and pilot studies taking place in the region and nationally.
- Coordination of Initiatives
Discussion of how work on various compliance initiatives can be coordinated to maximize benefits.
- Energy Measurement
Discussion of how measurement of energy use works with energy codes.
- 3rd Party Inspection
What are 3rd Party Inspectors? How can 3rd party inspections help with improving enforcement? How can it be adopted and implemented?
- Utililties & Codes
What is the relationship between utilities and code adoption/enforcement? What is the role of utilities in code adoption/enforcement? How do we i ncorporate utility codes activies into energy efficiency programs?
- Next Steps
Brief discussion of what future coordination activities might be, including: the institution of regular (monthly, quarterly, etc.) conference calls between conference participants and other stakeholders to discuss pressing code-related issues in the region.
Notes from the conference are available for download [pdf].
