Code crafters are lauding a significant process change in reference-standard development that provides markers for progress along the way, directional signals for reaching goals and validation of the standard’s potential impact on energy use and cost. The process, based on energy modeling and analysis, helped the developers of the 2010 edition of the commercial-building energy standard reach their goal of providing a standard that, if followed, could result in a whopping 30% reduction in both energy use and costs compared with use of the standard’s 2004 edition.
Crafters of the next edition of the energy standard already are using the process again, this time to reach an even more ambitious “50% goal.” Crafters of the next two editions of the model residential energy code—targeting a 30% goal and then a 50% goal, respectively—also are using the process.