Energy codes and standards play a significant role in the United States construction market by influencing the design of commercial buildings. Once a code or standard is adopted by lawmakers, it becomes a legal requirement that protects our society from substandard building practices and ensures a minimum level of energy efficiency is achieved. Architects frequently turn to the International Energy Conservation Code and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers 90.1 standard to assist in creating project specifications. Complying with these codes and standards is a requirement to obtain building permits. However, many times the performance that results from these baseline codes is not enough to meet the needs of the building’s owners.
Current baseline codes do not meet the needs of green building practices. A recent trend has been to design buildings that achieve levels of energy efficiency above standard code. The trend has spawned the creation of alternative “green” codes and standards such as the ASHRAE 189.1 and the International Green Conservation Code (IgCC), which are more stringent and require higher levels of thermal performance. While these alternative standards are available to be specified on green building projects, the baseline codes still influence the majority of commercial construction projects. Therefore, an effort to make baseline codes more stringent has recently gained momentum in order to reduce the energy demands of commercial buildings in the United States.