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New multifamily guide efficiency measures deliver up to 25% energy savings
Multifamily buildings offer a largely untapped opportunity for improving energy efficiency. Despite tremendous  potential for savings, the multifamily market is hard to penetrate due to complexities in market structure and split incentives. More attention is being paid to overcoming these barriers and NBI is working with industry partners to accelerate best practices into utility program design and implementation and to make connections between owners, tenants, funders, utilities, and energy efficiency experts.
After extensive research and modeling, we have developed a single prescriptive new construction standard that delivers savings of 15-25% regardless of whether the project is subject to the residential or commercial versions of energy code, and offers design and construction practitioners support to achieve above code energy efficiency. The measures are explained in the new Multifamily Guide from NBI's Building Innovation program. For efficiency program administrators, we provide a package that offers measures modeled for verified energy savings estimates and incremental cost analysis.
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The 2018 Getting to Zero National Forum is now seeking submissions for presenters. All
proposals must be submitted electronically via the online submission site by the deadline, November 17. This year's program will feature several different presentation types, and speakers will choose the style of presentation wh
en submitting. The National Forum is scheduled for April 17-19 in Pittsburgh, PA. Registration will be opening soon.
Important Call for Speaker Dates:
November 17: Proposal Submission Deadline
January 10: Disposition Notifications Sent
January 31: Presenter Registration Deadline
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NBI hits 20-year milestone!
2017 marks New Buildings Institute's 20
th
year working to improve the energy performance of commercial buildings and we are celebrating! Over the last two decades, we have seen transformational change in the building industry and, we as NBI staff are proud to have been a driver and resource every step of the way. Join us as we look back at NBI's accomplishments and look forward to our future impact.
NBI CEO Ralph DiNola reflects on NBI's legacy and a vision for the future. Read Blog
Watch interviews
with a founder, Doug Mahone, on the genesis of NBI, the momentum of the early organization, and the lasting impacts of NBI.
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New zero energy resources help designers, owners achieve successful projects
NBI has launched a new Zero Energy Resource Hub to help practitioners, owners, policymakers and others interested in zero energy (ZE) buildings find the tools and resources that will help drive better outcomes on policy development, project design, construction, and operations. The ZE Hub includes sections focused
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California Lottery Office | Santa Fe Springs, CA
Credit: LPAS Architecture + Design
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on:
Policy Resources including leading examples of policies, programs, and energy/stretch codes of states and cities working toward zero energy goals.
Technical Resources
including feasibility studies, cost studies, financing options and incentive programs which drive zero energy design.
ZE School Resources highlighting state policies and national programs working toward zero energy schools; districts pursuing zero energy, and the strategies they use to achieve results.
Do you have resources you don't see here? Please send them to Susan Harris at [email protected]
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zEPI is a simple metric for measuring building energy performance on the path to zero.
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With a growing number of states looking to drive local building stock toward zero energy (ZE) performance, NBI staff has developed a new scoring approach that will help jurisdictions assess and compare progress on achieving policy goals.
To
create
a common baseline against which the energy performance of code-compliant buildings can be compared across states, we applied the Zero Energy Performance Index (zEPI) scale to create the zEPI Jurisdictional Score.
This new method uses a framework for calculating scores for entire states based on their adopted energy policies, and take into account statewide energy codes and local stretch codes. By leveraging new code analysis published by Pacific Northwest National Labs and combining it with NBI's in-house policy tracking work, we were able to calculate zEPI Jurisdictional Scores for every state with adopted energy codes, and for others without a statewide code which have sufficient data available on local policy adoptions.
The score will become the basis for ranking states in the annual ACEEE State Energy Efficiency Scorecard starting in 2018.
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Register
for the annual buildings list by October 27th
New Buildings Institute (NBI) is in the process of collecting building data for commercial and multifamily buildings across North America to round out its 2018 Zero Energy Buildings List. Since 2012, NBI staff have been tracking growth in the zero energy (ZE) market searching and researching over 440 verified and emerging zero energy buildings.
Buildings, once vetted, will be categorized and published in a list spotlighting zero energy and ultra-low energy buildings to be released this fall and featured on a future national webinar. Leading owners, builders and designers will be honored at the 2018 Getting to Zero National Forum, so make sure your project is included!
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For the second year,
California's ZNE Schools Awards program will showcase the people, teams, buildings, and districts that are driving this new standard for school environments. ZNE sc
hools are high performance buildings that combine energy efficiency and renewable resources to produce at least as much energy as they consume annually on a source-energy basis.
The awards are being facilitated by NBI on behalf of the state's investor-owned utilities.
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Bishop O'Dowd High School | Oakland, CA
Credit: David Wake
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Don't miss the pre-summit workshop! The
Business of ZNE School Retrofits and Community Impact on
November 27 from 9 am - 12 noon will feature the experiences of districts participating in the Proposition 39 ZNE Schools Pilot program including planning, engaging stakeholders, assessment of costs/savings and options to secure financing. Register now
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Radiant case studies available
NBI teamed up with the Center for the Built Environment to study the impact radiant technologies have on the energy performance of buildings with very low energy use intensities (EUI). These
five new case studies are based on the recently released study "
Energy Performance of Commercial Buildings with Radiant Heating and Cooling." Both building data and occupant comfort ratings are used to measure the effectiveness of radiant heating.
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School retrofits webinar on demand
Findings in a new report examining opportunities to stimulate and enable the public school market to meet California's aggressive ZNE targets are now available via an on-demand webinar. The "California K-12 and Community College Zero Net Energy (ZNE) Retrofit Readiness Study" includes a market characterization and a technical sensitivity analysis. Copies of the
final report will be made available soon.
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Don't miss these upcoming workshops on zero net energy
December 11 | 12:30-4:30 pm
Energy Innovation Center |
San Diego, CA
A workshop to give local government staff the information, tools, and confidence to create and drive progress toward zero net energy goals. Register
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December 13 | 8:30 am-1:30 pm
Environmental Innovation Center | San Jose, CA
A workshop on best practice steps and whole-building approaches to comprehensively enhance the energy performance of existing buildings to ZNE. Register
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Where we'll be; meet with NBI staff
Ralph DiNola at
October 27 |
Berlin, CT
and
November 14 | Grand Rapids, MI
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Cathy Higgins and Eric Bruckbauer at
October 30- November 1 | Litchfield Park, AZ
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