ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2004 Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, has been established by a ruling of the DOE as the commercial building reference standard for state building energy codes. This was done as a result of the federal Energy Policy Act. The 2004 version of the standard was chosen because it is more stringent and has been shown to save more energy than an earlier ASHRAE standard.
The Act requires all states to certify the federal government that they have state-wide energy codes in place that are as stringent or more so than the 90.1-2004 version. If they can not comply with the provisions in 90.1-2004, states must explain their situation to the federal government. The newer version contains benefits from new requirements for insulation, ventilation, lighting, and cooling/heating equipment and systems.
More information can be found at www.ashrae.org.
Webcor Builders and Climate Earth have announced a partnership to create the first database of greenhouse-gas emissions from the construction supply chain. Webcor says that the goal is to establish a consistent means for the construction industry to measure the carbon equivalent of its products. The idea is to measure and document the carbon footprint from production of all building materials, including glass, drywall, steel and concrete. Using their Enterprise Carbon Accounting system, Climate Earth will quantify greenhous gases that are generated during extraction, manufacturing and transportation of materials used in Webcor’s construction projects. The emissions data will be expressed in units of CO2 equivalence. Climate Earth expects that the database will be available to design and construction firms by the end of this year.