We provide expert knowledge and guidance to advance and enforce energy codes.

Local and state government control of energy codes has the potential to be one of the largest drivers of energy savings in the coming decade. Our research team uses deep knowledge of building design and codes to provide guidance for these initiatives. We focus on code advancement from a few angles:

Codes and standards programs

Local governments are interested in moving energy codes both further and faster. In order to do so, significant technical support is needed to determine and justify these accelerated pathways. We laid some technical foundation for these efforts. We also investigated the ability of utility programs, and their associated funding, to be a primary technical support source for ongoing efforts. Our research includes:

• Illinois code advancement
• Minnesota codes and standards efficiency programs
• ASHRAE actual performance of 90.1-2010 building

Code compliance

Without code compliance, there’s no energy impact. The compliance challenge increases as codes become more stringent. Slipstream investigates how code compliance and enforcement work in different jurisdictions. We provide recommendations for policies, approaches, and programs to support the building design and construction community to reach the highest rate of compliance possible. Our work includes:

• Department of Energy low-rise multifamily code compliance study
• Energy and new homes in Minnesota
• Minnesota commercial code compliance
• Providence Code Enforcement study
• Department of Energy complex commercial code enforcement