David B. Belzer

Climate Change Impacts on U.S. Commercial Building Energy Consumption: An Analysis Using Sample Survey Data

Although much of the commercial sector infrastructure for the next century is currently under construction or is in the planning stages, little has been done in communicating how potential global warming might change the energy consumption characteristics of the building stock. The research discussed in this article advances the literature on how climate change affects commercial sector energy demand systems. It projects the effects of climate change on commercial energy demand in the United States at the national level. The article relies heavily on time-series regressions of monthly energy consumption by building on monthly heating and cooling degree days. It provides empirical results for the effects of climate on a projected building stock in the year 2030 and examines the prospects for saving energy with advanced building designs in the context of potential global warming.

120 Years of U.S. Residential Housing Stock and Floor Space

Residential buildings are a key driver of energy consumption and also impact transportation and land-use. Energy consumption in the residential sector accounts for one-fifth of total U.S. energy consumption and energy-related CO2 emissions, with floor space a major driver of building energy demands. In this work a consistent, vintage-disaggregated, annual long-term series of U.S. housing stock and residential floor space for 1891–2010 is presented. An attempt was made to minimize the effects of the incompleteness and inconsistencies present in the national housing survey data. Over the 1891–2010 period, floor space increased almost tenfold, from approximately 24,700 to 235,150 million square feet, corresponding to a doubling of floor space per capita from approximately 400 to 800 square feet. While population increased five times over the period, a 50% decrease in household size contributed towards a tenfold increase in the number of housing units and floor space, while average floor space per unit remains surprisingly constant, as a result of housing retirement dynamics. In the last 30 years, however, these trends appear to be changing, as household size shows signs of leveling off, or even increasing again, while average floor space per unit has been increasing. GDP and total floor space show a remarkably constant growth trend over the period and total residential sector primary energy consumption and floor space show a similar growth trend over the last 60 years, decoupling only within the last decade.

Lost Opportunities in the Buildings Sector: Energy-Efficiency Analysis and Results

This report summarizes the results and the assumptions used in an analysis of the potential “lost efficiency opportunities” in the buildings sector. These targets of opportunity are those end-uses, applications, practices, and portions of the buildings market which are not currently being addressed, or addressed fully, by the Building Technologies Program (BTP) due to lack of resources. The lost opportunities, while a significant increase in effort and impact in the buildings sector, still represent only a small portion of the full technical potential for energy efficiency in buildings.

Analysis of Potential Benefits and Costs of Adopting a Commercial Building Energy Standard in South Dakota

The state of South Dakota is considering adopting a commercial building energy standard. This report evaluates the potential costs and benefits to South Dakota residents from requiring compliance with the most recent edition of the ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA 90.1-2001 Energy Standard for Buildings except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. These standards were developed in an effort to set minimum requirements for the energy efficient design and construction of new commercial buildings. The quantitative benefits and costs of adopting a commercial building energy code are modeled by comparing the characteristics of assumed current building practices with the most recent edition of the ASHRAE Standard, 90.1-2001. Both qualitative and quantitative benefits and costs are assessed in this analysis. Energy and economic impacts are estimated using results from a detailed building simulation tool (Building Loads Analysis and System Thermodynamics [BLAST] model) combined with a Life-Cycle Cost (LCC) approach to assess corresponding economic costs and benefits.

Impact of 2004 Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Buildings-Related Projects on United States Employment and Earned Income

The Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) is interested in assessing the potential economic impacts of its portfolio of projects on national employment and income. A special purpose version of the IMPLAN input-output model called ImBuild II is used in this study of all 37 buildings-related projects reported to the Office of Management and Budget on February 3, 2003 for inclusion in the revised FY 2004 budget request. Energy savings, investments, and impacts on U.S. national employment and earned income are reported by project for selected years to the year 2030. Energy savings and investments from these projects have the potential of creating a total of 297,000 jobs and about

A Retrospective Analysis of Commercial Building Energy Codes: 1990 – 2008

4.16 billion in earned income (2002

Texas State Building Energy Code: Analysis of Potential Benefits and Costs of Commercial Lighting Requirements

) by the year 2030.

Baseline Inputs for BEAMS: Data used in preparing Methodological Framework for Analysis of Building-Related Programs: The GPRA Metrics Effort, June 2004

Building Energy Codes Programs efforts are designed to result in increased stringency in national model energy codes, more rapid and broader adoption by states and localities of updated codes, and increased compliance and enforcement. Report estimates the historical impact of Building Energy Codes Program in terms of energy savings achieved that are based upon various editions of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1 (ASHRAE Standard 90.1).

Impact of the FY 2005 Building Technologies Program on United States Employment and Earned Income

The State Energy Conservation Office of Texas has asked the U.S. Department of Energy to analyze the potential energy effect and cost-effectiveness of the lighting requirements in the 2003 IECC as they consider adoption of this energy code. The new provisions of interest in the lighting section of IECC 2003 include new lighting power densities (LPD) and requirements for automatic lighting shutoff controls. The potential effect of the new LPD values is analyzed as a comparison with previous values in the nationally available IECC codes and ASHRAE/IESNA 90.1. The basis for the analysis is a set of lighting models developed as part of the ASHRAE/IES code process, which is the basis for IECC 2003 LPD values. The use of the models allows for an effective comparison of values for various building types of interest to Texas state. Potential effects from control requirements are discussed, and available case study analysis results are provided but no comprehensive numerical evaluation is provided in this limited analysis effort.

Impact of the FY 2005 Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program on United States Employment and Earned Income

This report contains the appendix to the PNNL report, Methodological Framework for Analysis of Buildings-Related Programs: The GPRA Metrics Effort.