Evanston, Illinois recently passed the Healthy Buildings Ordinance (HBO),  taking action to address emissions in their existing buildings. The HBO implements a Building Performance Standard (BPS), the first city in Illinois, and only the second city in the Midwest. Evanston, situated 12 miles north of Chicago and home to over 75,000 residents and Northwestern University, voted to approve the ordinance on March 10th, 2025.

On February 24, Evanston, Illinois’ city council voted to make Evanston the first city in the State to adopt the newly available stretch energy code for new residential and commercial buildings. This is a significant step for Evanston to achieve the emissions reduction goals outlined in its 2018 Climate Action and Resilience Plan.  

The 15th Annual Midwest Building Energy Codes Conference brought together city leaders, policy advocates and professionals from the real estate and construction industries to Cincinnati, Ohio. Attendees from across the country discussed ways that strong building codes and policies help cities and states meet clean energy goals and enhance energy efficiency in buildings.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin recently passed an energy benchmarking ordinance, a proven method for reducing building energy use in as little as one year after reporting. This is a significant achievement for Milwaukee, as it is an important step positioned by their recently adopted Climate and Equity Plan.  

When most people think about nature, the first place their minds wander is not often ‘buildings.’  As made clear throughout ACEEE’s Summer Study conference, this is different for people working in the building energy efficiency space.  

For these buildings professionals, balancing nature and the built environment is a constant challenge. They must weigh power and fuel generation mix while prioritizing energy efficiency, consider multi-dimensional feedback in design and responsibly manage the planet's limited natural resources amidst climate change and the increasing global demand for covered spaces.

During its 2024 session, the Minnesota legislature made a significant stride in enhancing energy efficiency standards for newly constructed residential buildings (three stories or less). Specifically, the final version of the House Labor omnibus bill (HF 5242A) directs the state to adopt a new residential energy code every three years (the same update schedule of the model International Energy Conservation Code (IECC)), beginning in 2026. The updated codes must move incrementally towards a goal of reducing annual net energy consumption 70% or greater by 2038.

On April 25th, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced they had completed the review and approval process of an updated energy efficiency code for federally funded housing projects. These projects, an estimated annual 165,000 homes developed with funds from HUD or the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), will now be required to follow the provisions from the 2021 IECC for residential or ASHRAE 90.1-2019 for commercial buildings. 

Off-site construction can decrease project time by 50% (Page 3) due to industrialization of the building components and the ability to complete site work, such as laying the foundation, concurrently. These time-saving benefits are lost, however, when there is uncertainty about who or how these structures and processes are inspected and deployed. Since the process of how these structures get commissioned varies from state to state and even city to city, each new project may encounter its own set of hurdles.  

The MEEA Building Codes & Policy team hosted the workshop, "To Infinity and Beyond: Workshopping the Buzz about Energy Codes” at the 2024 Midwest Energy Solutions Conference. In the planning of this workshop, it was important that the expanding list of benefits that come with advancing energy codes – occupant health, grid impacts, carbon reduction and utility bill savings, to name a few, were a focus of the conversation. It was also important to discuss the challenges faced by states and jurisdictions when adopting energy codes. This includes accessing technical assistance resources, gaining utility program support, engaging with rural as well as urban communities and tracking compliance and enforcement.

This material was originally published on the Sustainable Energy Action Committee website and is republished here with permission.