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The Building Official And The Energy Crisis - Are We Doing Everything We Can?

Economic experts predict that total housing units in many parts of Southern California are expected to grow more than 40% between 2001 and 2020. To the Building Official this represents both a workload challenge and a great opportunity to enhance the quality of life for millions of California residents.

When asked about the primary focus of their jobs, many Building Officials will proudly cite their efforts at insuring that buildings are properly constructed to respond to the threats of fire, earthquakes, storms and floods. While the exiting, fire protection and structural systems we require to respond to these threats are important and code requirements, they are rarely called upon during the life of the structure. On the other hand, there are other systems that seem to generate less interest but ultimately have a tremendous impact on the well being of the occupants of these buildings. A system that provides superior energy efficiently is an example of such a system.

With the threat of rolling blackouts, conservation of electricity is on the minds of all California residents. The current energy crisis has made us all painfully aware of the cost of wasting electricity. In many communities local government leaders are asking their Building Official what they can do to assist the residents during these challenging times. The question to you is, “As the Building Official, are you doing everything you can to promote energy efficiency in your community?”

Some building officials can proudly respond to that question. They are comfortably positioned to see their community begin to reap huge energy savings in the near future, and have already addressed the challenges mentioned above. What did they do? They joined the voluntary Community Energy Efficiency Program (CEEP) - one of the most innovative and effective energy efficiency-driven “green builder” programs in the country.

In the summer of 1999, Building Industry Institute put together an Advisory Committee comprised of local government Building Officials, homebuilders, the California Energy Commission, environmental groups, energy consultants and others. This Committee reviewed the top dozen green builder programs in the United States, picked the best components of the best programs, and established the Community Energy Efficiency Program (CEEP). This remarkable program incentivizes homebuilders to improve the efficiency of new residential construction - and go 10-15% beyond the new Title 24 energy code requirements. (Prior to the recent code changes, CEEP builders went 25 - 30% beyond the old Title 24 energy code requirements.) In return for building that much beyond code, local governments reward homebuilders by returning their plans earlier than would occur if they simply met code, and / or they reduce inspection and / or permit fees and / or they provide special recognition to the homebuilder for his / her efforts.

The BII tapped George Burmeister, President of the Boulder, Colorado and Sacramento-based Colorado Energy Group, as lead consultant for the CEEP project. Mr Burmeister, a national expert on local and state energy efficiency programs, worked with the Advisory Group to explore a variety of programs before the Group ultimately chose to model CEEP after a California and Nevada program, ComfortWise. The program had proven to be a success and it contained everything the Group was looking for - it provides local governments with cleaner plans and the reliable, thorough, third party inspections they needed to address the new and more complex energy efficiency requirements.

With financial support from the Southern California Edison Company (SCE), 27 local governments are receiving free technical assistance from the program - at a time when they obviously need it! SCE supports the program through the California Building Industry Association’s non-profit, the Building Industry Institute (BII). Public goods funds flow from the Edison Company to the BII and on to local governments via individualized technical assistance and implementation support for the CEEP.

Word travels fast. Local governments continue to line up to start the program, including: Bakersfield, Brentwood, Chino Hills, Chula Vista, Contra Costa County, Corona, Davis, Fresno, Hemet, Hesperia, Kern County, Lake Elsinore, Lancaster, Los Angeles County, Oceanside, Orange County, Palmdale, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside County, San Bernardino, San Diego County, Santa Clarita, San Luis Obispo County, Simi Valley, Temecula and Ventura. Other local governments considering the program currently include Apple Valley, Palm Desert, Upland and Victorville. This past year, the Department of Energy funded CEEP work in Northern California, while SCE funded work in Southern California.

Many of these local governments joined CEEP because they expect to save time on plan check and / or field inspections. This is a result of having better quality plan submittals that have been reviewed and stamped by a registered mechanical engineer. Aside from the obvious environmental benefits from energy efficiency gains, and the economic benefits that result from keeping energy dollars in the local community, there are many more compelling reasons for local governments to join the program. Free technical assistance is one. Marketing support is another. In addition, the Building Industry Institute (working with the Advisory Group) provides local governments with experienced, professional consultants on our schedule, to help us set-up and implement the program. We will also benefit from any future CEEP-related advertising the utilities decide to do. Many of the participating jurisdictions have also received special recognition as recipients of the California Energy Commission’s prestigious ACES (Assuring Compliance with Energy Standards) awards.

The CEEP program also has benefits for the builders. Those benefits include improved plan check time, reduced local fees (varying by jurisdiction), product differentiation, improved housing quality and increased homeowner satisfaction.

The CEEP program is relatively simple, with no complicated confusing forms to negotiate. Local governments that adopt the program agree to ask builders to simply do five things.

• Each CEEP home plan must have a preliminary CHEERS rating of 86 or greater before construction;
• Each home must have an HVAC system designed to Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA Manual J, D, and S) requirements and the design stamped by an engineer registered in the State of California;
• The home must meet the California Energy Commission’s “Tight Duct” criteria (total air leakage must be below 6%);
• The builder must use formal contractor scopes of work and notify installing subcontractors (insulation, windows, and HVAC) that the scopes of work will be used as the basis for quality inspections; and
• Participating homes must have a final CHEERS rating of 86, before final inspection, documenting that they passed CHEERS inspections and diagnostics

As a Building Official, are you doing everything you can to promote energy conservation in your community? If not, consider joining forces with many other Building Officials throughout the state and become a member jurisdiction of CEEP.

For more information about CEEP, please contact Bob Raymer at 916/443-7933 or George Burmeister at 303/931-8683

Brad Remp, Chief Building Official, City of Chula Vista

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