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Mazria Publishes Code Equivalents for 2030 Challenge

Architecture 2030, the organization created by Ed Mazria, FAIA, to reduce the building sector’s contribution to climate change, has published a guide that compares existing energy codes with the performance targets of the 2030 Challenge. The 2030 Challenge calls for an immediate 50% reduction in the fossil fuel consumption of new buildings, compared with a baseline drawn from the 2003 Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) for commercial buildings and Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) for residential buildings.

The white paper “Meeting the 2030 Challenge Through Building Codes,” published in June 2008, provides a table showing the degree to which commonly referenced energy codes have to be exceeded to achieve the 50% fossil-fuel-reduction target. Selected content from this table is provided above.

The paper was written in response to demand, according to Architecture 2030 director Kristina Kershner. “We created the chart because so many municipalities were contacting us, asking whether their current code met the Challenge and, if not, how far off they were,” she told EBN. Charles Eley, FAIA, P.E., of Architectural Energy Corporation, Harvey Bryan, FAIA, Ph.D., of Arizona State University, and Mark Frankel, of the New Buildings Institute, contributed to the project.

The brief white paper addresses only the initial 50% reduction called for in the 2030 Challenge, not deeper cuts that are called for in later years (though not much later—a 60% reduction is called for by 2010). According to Kershner, the organization will publish the 60% and subsequent equivalents in the coming months.

– Alex Wilson

For more information:

Architecture 2030
www.architecture2030.org

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DISCUSSIONS Missed a critical standard that goes well beyond … Jean Ascoli Jul 31, 2008 More comments RELATED LEED CREDITS Minimum Energy Performance EA Prerequisite 2 More related LEED credits RELATED GREEN DESIGN Codes and Standards More related green design