Texas Residential Energy Code Field Study

Principal Investigator: National Association of State Energy Officials – Arlington, VA

Buildings

August 10, 2015

Principal Investigator: National Association of State Energy Officials – Arlington, VA
Partners:
  -   South-central Partnership for Energy Efficiency as a Resource (SPEER) – Austin, TX
  -   State Energy Conservation Office, Texas – Austin, TX
DOE Total Funding: $1,437,707
Cost Share: $360,000
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:

  1. A baseline study to identify the energy use in typical single-family residential buildings in a given state and opportunities for improving energy efficiency
  2. An education, training and outreach phase targeting issues identified through the baseline study
  3. A post-study to identify the change in energy use following the education, training and 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: Rodney Sobin, National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO)

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