On January 9th Eveline Killian presented on the evolution of the Vermont Commercial Building Energy Standard (CBES). The Department of Public Service has mandated that the CBES be updated every three years. Eveline has been involved in the latest update of the CBES that will take effect in January 2020, specifically the mechanical and service water sections. The proposed code started with the 2018 IECC, then incorporated increased energy requirements to meet VT’s Comprehensive Energy Plan. This energy plan states that all new buildings shall be designed to net zero by 2030. With only a few energy code updates within that time frame, the savings targets have been mapped out for each code iteration to eventually reach net zero. These targets were set by energy modeling three prototype commercial buildings with inputs including insulation and windows, HVAC equipment, lighting and service water efficiencies.
There were public meetings and comment periods in the fall of 2018 before the proposed code was released. Currently, the proposed CBES document can be found on the Department of Public Services website and input will still be accepted before the code is finalized. That will likely be in March of 2019 and Eveline advised the audience to send her their feedback. The comments have been lacking from the design community on the mechanical and service water sections so please share your thoughts:
Send all questions/comments to: PSD.CodeUpdateComm@vermont.gov
- Visit the Building Energy Standards Update Website from the Department of Public Service
- Here is a link to the Proposed Commercial Building Energy Standard (CBES)
- A new draft should be available in January but has not been posted as of 1/15/19