A consulting unit of HVAC giant Carrier Global Corp. has been retained by the California Energy Commission to help it develop the state’s latest building energy code for 2025.
The CEC selected NORESCO on a three-year contact to assist in updating the building energy code. The two parties have worked together on refining these energy efficiency standards for more than 15 years.
The state of California has a goal of reaching net zero in greenhouse gas emissions in coming decades. Homes and businesses account for about 25 percent of the state’s GHG emissions, according to the 2022 Building Energy Code document.
Previous code revisions advocated for building decarbonization and installation of six million electric heat pumps by 2020. On another front, new construction is required to add rooftop solar as part of California’s renewable energy goals.
"With the ongoing support of NORESCO, the CEC is excited to continue pioneering world-leading strategies for buildings, while enabling energy bill savings and other benefits to building owners and occupants," said Michael Sokol, Deputy Director, CEC Efficiency Division. "This three-year agreement will assist the CEC as we look ahead to the next Building Energy Efficiency Standards update cycle."
The new three-year contract will build on NORESCO’s previous work assisting the CED with building energy codes. The 2022 code cycle included the development of the solar photovoltaics and battery storage requirements, as well as the single-zone heat pump rules for nonresidential buildings.
"NORESCO will provide the highly specialized technical support essential for developing, implementing and maintaining the 2025 Energy Code update to address the numerous energy priorities facing California," Sokol added.
The company will help develop energy accounting methodologies for the 2025 building code cycle. These will include prototype building models, weather files, metrics and lifecycle costs. The NORESCO team also will review national model codes and structure ideas for comparison.
Once the CEC adopts its new energy efficiency standards, those are submitted to the California Building Standards Commissions for approval.
Some complain that such aggressive standards raise costs for developers and building or homeowners. The CEC’s previous report countered that the state’s per-capita energy use has stayed nearly flat since the early 1970s even though its economy grew by 80 percent.
One chart in the report estimates that California’s annual electricity consumption averaged out to 6,349 kWh per capita, compared with 11,608 kWh per capita nationwide.
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(Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]).
