Lead Performer: Institute for Market Transformation – Washington, DC
Partners: Alabama Center for Excellence in Clean Energy Technology, Calhoun Community College – Decatur, AL
DOE Total Funding: $657,846
Cost Share: $164,598
Project Term: 2014 – 2017
Funding Opportunity: Strategies to Increase Residential Energy Code Compliance Rates and Measure Results Funding Opportunity Announcement (DE-FOA-0000953)
Project Objective
The project investigates whether investing in statewide building energy code education, training, and outreach programs can produce a significant, measurable change in residential building code compliance rates, and in turn, energy savings. DOE plans to establish a sufficient data set to represent statewide construction trends.
The study comprises three main stages:
- A baseline study to identify the energy use in typical single-family residential buildings in a given state and opportunities for improving energy efficiency
- An education, training & outreach phase targeting issues identified through the baseline study
- A post- study to identify the change in energy use following the education, training & outreach activities
Study Highlights
- Results based on an energy metric and reported at the state-level
- Focuses on individual code requirements within new single-family homes
- Data confidentiality built into the experiment—no personal data will be shared
- Based on a single site-visit prioritizing key items
- Designed with statistically significant results in mind
Project Impact
The results of these activities provide the necessary business case to influence non-government entities, particularly utilities, to make investments in similar programs, which could lead to substantial national energy savings.
Contacts
DOE Technology Manager: Jeremy Williams, jeremy.williams@ee.doe.gov
Principal Investigator: Ryan Meres, Institute for Market Transformation
Additional Information
To learn more about the Residential Energy Code Field Study, visit: https://www.energycodes.gov/funding-opportunity-doe-building-energy-codes-program-strategies-increase-residential-building