April 17, 2012

More than 75 State Energy Office staff, public utility commissioners, utility staff, code officials and other energy code stakeholders learned about Energy Codes Collaboratives at a NASEO Buildings Program webinar on April 17.  The goal was to teach attendees about one strategy for improving energy code compliance: forming an Energy Codes Collaborative. Several states, such as Idaho and Delaware, are using this model to increase energy code adoption and compliance.  The webinar was co-sponsored by the Building Codes Assistance Project (BCAP) and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA). 

During the presentation, Maria Ellingson described BCAP’s research in 18 states on current energy code activity, from which Energy Codes Collaboratives emerged as a best practice.  Ken Baker, founder of K energy, provided details on Idaho’s Collaborative, which has successfully advocated for four statewide code adoptions, has supported statewide education and training, and is currently developing a “Value of Energy Codes” messaging program.  Ken also presented an overview of how to form an Energy Codes Collaborative.  Bahareh Van Boekhold, Energy Efficiency Planner at the Delaware Division of Clean Energy and Climate, described the state’s recent experience with initiating a Collaborative.  At the end of the webinar, the presenters responded to audience questions about a Collaborative’s typical budget, meeting frequency, group composition, and role in code adoption.

Webinar Recording

For more information on this webinar or NASEO’s building energy code activities, please contact Chris Wagner at cwagner@naseo.org.