California Energy Commission Selects NORESCO to Develop New Energy Efficiency Standards in Support of State’s Decarbonization Goals

NORESCO, a part of Carrier Global Corporation (NYSE:CARR), is pleased to announce it has been awarded a new, three-year contract to help the California Energy Commission (CEC) develop and adopt the state’s building energy code for 2025. California’s Building Energy Efficiency Standards are updated every three years to guide the construction of new and existing buildings toward the state’s clean energy goals. NORESCO has worked with the CEC to advance one of the nation’s most efficient building energy standards, Title 24, Part 6 of the California Code of Regulations, for more than 15 years. 

“With the ongoing support of NORESCO, the CEC is excited to continue pioneering world-leading strategies for buildings, while enabling energy bill savings and other benefits to building owners and occupants,” said Michael Sokol, Deputy Director, CEC Efficiency Division. “This three-year agreement will assist the CEC as we look ahead to the next Building Energy Efficiency Standards update cycle.” 

“The NORESCO team’s expertise in energy codes, modeling and building science allows us to provide the CEC with the support needed to achieve its objectives for the 2025 code cycle,” said Rahul Athalye, Program Director of Code Development and Support, NORESCO. “We look forward to continuing to work together with the CEC to achieve deep decarbonization in the California building sector.”

The upcoming code cycle will enable the CEC to drive continued progress toward the goals in California’s Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR). The 2021 IEPR recommends the acceleration of building decarbonization and the installation of 6 million heat pumps by 2030. California’s building energy code will play a key role in achieving these objectives, and the NORESCO team will support the CEC in developing and implementing strategies to meet these goals in both new construction and alterations. 

NORESCO will also help develop energy accounting methodologies for the 2025 cycle, including development of prototype building models, weather files, metrics and life-cycle cost methodology. The team will review national model codes, assess new measures and code structure ideas, and support the research and development of new code requirements. 

“NORESCO will provide the highly specialized technical support essential for developing, implementing and maintaining the 2025 Energy Code update to address the numerous energy priorities facing California,” Sokol said. 

The new contract builds on NORESCO’s prior work with CEC, which in the 2022 code cycle included the development of the photovoltaics (PV) and battery requirements, as well as the single-zone heat pump requirements for nonresidential buildings. The 2022 Energy Code also stipulated electric-ready requirements for new homes, strengthened ventilation standards and made California the first state in the U.S. to require solar PV and battery storage in new nonresidential buildings. 

Along with supporting development of the energy code for California, NORESCO has performed code development in Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, Washington and other jurisdictions that are leading the charge toward zero carbon and zero energy building codes. NORESCO is currently working with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority to develop the NYStretch Energy Code. 

About NORESCO

NORESCO, a part of Carrier Global Corporation, helps clients adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change by decarbonizing, modernizing and electrifying aging infrastructure to be more sustainable and resilient. By deploying innovative distributed energy, storage and renewable energy solutions, NORESCO improves the health and efficiency of existing campuses, buildings and communities. To date, NORESCO has guaranteed more than $5 billion in energy and operating cost savings at more than 10,000 facilities while reducing customer CO2 emissions by more than 25 million metric tons – the equivalent to planting 1.4 million acres of forest.