Thermal efficiency standards and codes. Volume 2. Relationships of ASHRAE standards and external factors to energy efficient building practices in new homes

Available data on 1976 and 1979 new home construction practices were used to develop measures of average building practice for each of the 48 contiguous states. Four possible views of the function and purpose of building energy standards and codes were posited and used to guide the search for relationships between building practice and building energy codes and standards implemented by the states. It was found that the average thermal efficiency of new single family homes improved from 1976 to 1979 in each of the 48 states. It was observed that by 1979 the average thermal efficiency of new homes in each of the 48 states exceeded American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers Standard 90-75 (ASHRAE 90). However, in all states, there were substantial numbers of new homes which did not meet the Standard. By January 1, 1979, 23 states had some type of applicable building energy code or standard in effect; 11 of these had state-wide mandatory codes. All codes and standards were either identical to or very similar to the ASHRAE Standard 90-75 in their building shell requirements. A search for statistical evidence of a relationship between state building code activities and building practice wasmore » performed. Three marginally significant relationships were found by analysis of variance; however, these relationships were not significant in regression equations with socio-economic variables present. The conclusion here is that the effects of state building code actions on building practices were not detectable by the statistical methods used.« less