In 1978, California adopted building codes designed to reduce the energy used for heating, cooling, and water heating in buildings. Using a rich dataset of hourly electricity consumption for 158,112 California houses during 2012-13, this paper estimates that single-family homes built from 1980 through 1982 consumed on average 13% less electricity for cooling than premises...

Heat recovery ventilators (HRVs) save energy by recovering heat that would otherwise be exhausted as part of energy code-mandated mechanical ventilation systems. Residential HRVs can be life cycle cost effective depending on equipment/installation costs and the severity of the climate. This brief evaluates HRV cost effectiveness in the context of building energy codes to identify...

This Decision Regulation Impact Statement (RIS) examines the expected impacts, including costs and benefits, associated with a proposal to add separate heating and cooling load limits or ‘load limits’ to the current Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) compliance pathway for the energy performance of residential buildings in the National Construction Code (NCC, or the...

Cool roof technology is known to reduce the cooling energy consumption of conditioned buildings during hot periods, and widespread implementation of such roofs in a neighbourhood or precinct can mitigate the urban heat island effect. Established building energy modelling techniques are able in principle to predict the benefits of cool roofs due to reduced heat...

This is the Committee on Climate Change’s (CCC) tenth statutory Progress Report to Parliament – an important moment to reflect on the UK's achievements in tackling climate change to date. 2018 also marks the tenth year since the Climate Change Act came into force and, with it, the creation of the CCC as an independent...