The National Institute of Building Sciences will host a free webinar Thursday, October 6 from 1:00 to 2:00 pm ET, to highlight an emerging energy performance concept—outcome-based pathways. This new approach to achieving efficient energy use addresses the needs and challenges of numerous stakeholders in the building industry.

Across the United States and internationally, communities are increasingly interested in achieving energy use reduction targets. The challenge is that, as currently written, energy codes do not provide an effective means of assuring achievement of such goals. Current building energy codes do not consider how buildings actually perform—they only prescribe criteria on how buildings are to be designed and constructed. These purely design-focused strategies do not provide the measurable and verifiable results policymakers are looking for. Further, members of the building industry, from designers to product manufacturers to building owners, are looking for flexibility in methods for achieving energy-efficiency goals.

The Institute has led an effort to incorporate an “Outcome-Based Compliance Pathway” in the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code. The proposal (CE-37) was heard by the IECC Committee earlier this year. Based on feedback from the Committee, the Institute submitted a public comment to provide the Pathway as an Addendum in the IECC to give communities interested in such an approach a methodology to follow. The public comment will be heard at the Public Comment Hearings October 19-25 in Kansas City, Missouri, and then voted on through ICC’s cdpAccess. The proposal builds on an approach incorporated into the 2015 International Green Construction Code (IgCC).

The webinar will provide an overview of this new energy performance approach.

Speakers include:

• Mike Fowler, Associate, Mithun
  What Does Outcome-Based Performance Mean for Designers?
• Kendra Tupper, Energy Services Manager, City of Boulder, Colorado
  What Does Outcome-Based Performance Mean for Cities?
• Ryan M. Colker, J.D., Presidential Advisor, National Institute of Building Sciences
  A Potential Framework for Outcome-Based Compliance in the 2018 International Energy Conservation Code.

Registration:

Attendees must preregister to attend the free October 6 IECC Proposed Outcome-Based Pathway Webinar. Login information is provided in the on-screen registration confirmation.

Want to learn more about the outcome-based pathway?

Visit the “Outcome-Based Pathways for Achieving Energy Performance Goals” page on the WBDG Whole Building Design Guide®.