Compliance Toolkit

This toolkit was developed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for use by the residential and commercial build communities. This toolkit is intended to help the communities design and construct buildings that achieve higher levels of compliance with energy codes, and to help them document that their buildings do indeed achieve those higher levels of compliance with energy codes. DOE is developing a similar toolkit for the enforcement community with the same goal of achieving higher levels of compliance with energy codes.

This toolkit describes the steps that should be taken by the build community to make sure that their buildings meet the requirements of the energy codes in effect where the buildings are being built and that the building designs are well-documented so that the enforcement community can quickly and easily determine if the building meets the requirement of the energy code.

This toolkit is not intended for use by developers, home owners or renters, building owners, or building operators, although this toolkit may provide those individuals some insight into the issues facing the residential and commercial build communities.

Current national model energy codes and standards are limited to the design and construction of buildings. That is, the operation and maintenance of the building—however important that might be to the overall energy usage of the building—is not considered in current national model energy codes and standards. Current model energy codes cover design, construction, and testing up to and including commissioning for some buildings. Current model energy codes and standards also include whole building performance approaches that require consideration of plug and process loads and occupancy schedules. Future model energy codes and standards may involve actual building energy usage and will therefore require consideration of commissioning for all buildings, operation and maintenance, and occupant behavior.

Organization of the Compliance Toolkit

This toolkit is organized around ten important steps for achieving compliance. These steps are:

1. Knowing which energy code is applicable to a particular project
2. Choosing a compliance path within the applicable energy code
3. Knowing the requirements of the applicable energy code
4. Designing a building to meet the requirements of the applicable energy code
5. Documenting the design of the building in plans and specifications
6. Constructing the building to meet plans and specifications
7. Documenting the "as-built" building in plans and specifications
8. Ensuring that building operates as intended by the designer
9. Providing energy code compliance documentation to the code official and building owners
10. Getting assistance on energy code and compliance questions.

Each step in this toolkit provides a general description, discussion of the issues faced by the build community, and a listing of resources for the build community.

This toolkit is focused on the codes and standards called out in the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. For the residential build community, ARRA requires states to meet or exceed the 2009 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) or achieve equivalent or greater energy savings to qualify to receive federal funding. For the commercial build community, states must meet or exceed ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2007 or achieve equivalent or greater energy savings to qualify to receive federal funding. The 2009 IECC contains two options for commercial buildings: (1) ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2007 by reference, or (2) a set of requirements directly in the IECC. The commercial requirements in ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2007 and the 2009 IECC are similar, but not identical; this toolkit will discuss some of those differences.

Both ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2007 and the 2009 IECC have been superseded by newer versions that require higher levels of energy efficiency. ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010 was published in August of 2010 and the 2012 IECC was published in May of 2011. This toolkit will also address compliance issues that may arise in ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2010 and the 2012 IECC.