IMT will lead a cross-sector team working to make building performance standards practical and affordable.
Media contact
Alexandra Laney, Institute for Market Transformation, 530-645-2539; alexandra.laney@imt.org
Award details
Washington, DC (September 19, 2024) — This week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it has selected the Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) and its partners for a $5.5 million grant to expand decarbonization for existing buildings. The funds come from the Resilient and Efficient Codes Implementation grant program created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
Building performance standards
“Building performance standards are one of the most powerful policy tools available to local and state governments for addressing the climate crisis,” said Alex Dews, IMT’s Chief Executive Officer. “We’re excited to build on the success of existing policies by increasing flexibility in compliance approaches, providing more training and education for implementers through high-performance building hubs, and focusing on streamlining and standardization across jurisdictions. While building performance standards impact a broad range of building types, this project will focus on the subset of buildings that is most difficult to decarbonize due to financial, operational, or other unique circumstances. IMT has played a key role in every building performance standard in the U.S. to date, and we’re excited to continue to innovate on this work.”
IMT will lead the Building Performance Standard Pathway Alternatives and Training Hubs (BPS PATH) project in partnership with Slipstream, the Building Energy Exchange (BE-Ex), and DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). A major focus will be developing and testing a standardized and replicable framework for building performance standard alternative compliance pathways. This new approach will allow more buildings to comply with a building performance standard, which is critical to ensuring that benefits of better buildings reach residents and communities with limited financial resources. The project will have four integrated workstreams:
- Developing a new model regulatory framework for building performance standard alternative compliance pathways (ACP) that is feasible, standardized, and replicable—and then providing technical assistance to our jurisdiction partners to adopt it
- Testing the ACP framework through planning pilots to help under-resourced buildings in select jurisdictions comply with the building performance standard—and then updating the framework based on lessons learned
- Utilizing IMT and BE-Ex’s network of high performance building hubs (hubs) to develop localized training and implementation resources
- Extending DOE software support for ACP implementation through the SEED Platform developed by NREL
The team will partner with the following state and local governments, who will contribute to project outputs and receive tailored technical assistance:
- State of California
- State of Oregon
- Berkeley, CA
- Boston
- Chicago
- Denver
- Kansas City, MO
- Montgomery County, MD
- New York City
- San Francisco
- St. Louis
- Washington, DC
Not all governments will participate in all BPS PATH workstreams.
“The City of Boston is committed to helping buildings in our city reduce emissions, which also improves health, affordability, and resilience to climate disasters,” says Oliver Sellers-Garcia, Green New Deal Director, Office of Mayor Michelle Wu and Commissioner of the Environment Department, City of Boston. “BERDO, our building performance standard, is a key tool to achieving those goals, and meeting those goals takes many different shapes across our diverse neighborhoods. The resources developed through this DOE-funded project will help make alternative compliance more accessible to building owners with limited staff and technical expertise, which is important for ensuring that BPS policies advance environmental justice.The City of Boston is looking forward to working with IMT, a respected, equity-focused partner, on this exciting project.”
The Building Performance Partnership network (BPP) will provide support and training on the ground through its network of high-performance building hubs. These hubs deliver place-based educational resources that support policy compliance, shift market norms, and make cross-sector connections to build thriving and inclusive local economies. BPP’s network currently includes: BE-Ex (New York City), the Building Innovation Hub (DC), BE-Ex St. Louis, BE-Ex Kansas City, and the Building Energy Resource Hub (Chicago). A team of additional engineering and consulting partners—including New Ecology Inc., Baumann Consulting, ERG, Ember Strategies, Emergent Group, and Emerald Cities Collaborative—will provide technical and advisory services.
“Hubs provide a critical forum for building owners and other real estate stakeholders to share knowledge and access technical assistance, including compliance guidance with building performance standards,” commented Malachi Rein, Director of the Building Energy-Exchange St. Louis. “BE-Ex St. Louis has been supporting owners in St. Louis in understanding the city’s BPS, and we know that customized alternative compliance pathways will be increasingly important for many building owners. DOE funding will help us serve our community, build a green workforce, and efficiently collaborate with other cities around the country.”
“Every building needs a decarbonization plan. Standardizing the concept of decarbonization planning and developing consistent regulatory compliance mechanisms across the country will enable deep retrofits and minimize costs for building owners” said Lane Wesley Burt, P.E., Managing Principal at Ember Strategies, a consulting firm advising global property owners. “For planning to happen at the scale and speed required to meet the industry’s carbon reduction goals, local regulators and building owners will need ways to communicate plans, document progress, and recognize effort and completion, and this funding from DOE will allow cities to move quickly and cooperatively toward compliance and deep emissions reductions.”
“We’re thrilled DOE is supporting this important project,” says Scott Hackel, Vice President of Research and Innovation at Slipstream. “Critically, this research is not just to explore theoretical frameworks and training, but we’ll be testing solutions in actual buildings that are in need of assessment. We’re excited to partner with IMT as well as the technical and hub teams to deliver the next generation of energy efficient building standards.”
IMT plans to launch the BPS PATH project in early 2025. For any questions, contact Marshall Duer-Balkind.
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About the team
The Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that envisions a world where buildings dramatically lower greenhouse gas emissions and support our physical, social, and economic well-being. We advance this vision through policies, programs, and business practices that scale better buildings in the United States. We are the foremost expert on building performance standards. We offer technical assistance and market research, alongside expertise in policy and program development and deployment and promotion of best practices and knowledge exchange. Our innovations have helped reduce carbon emissions and energy costs across billions of square feet of real estate in major U.S. cities; empowered landlords and tenants to overcome barriers to mutually-beneficial building improvements; and increased market demand for better buildings.
Slipstream discovers, tests, and scales climate solutions in buildings and communities that move us faster toward a clean economy for all. The nonprofit organization is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, with offices in Chicago and staff across the U.S. Slipstream’s solutions include research, program acceleration, inclusive energy financing, and workforce development through education and training. With 40 years of experience demonstrating “what’s next” in programs and technologies, Slipstream partners with utilities, local and state governments, regulatory agencies and other organizations to inspire new solutions to big energy challenges.
The Building Energy Exchange (BE-Ex), located in New York City, serves the building industry as a resource and trusted expert. In their first decade they delivered over 1,000 educational programs to more than 30,000 visitors, alongside hundreds of reports, exhibits, and tools. BE-Ex, alongside the Institute for Market Transformation, supports the development of resource hubs across the globe dedicated to reducing the effects of climate change by improving the built environment. Launched in spring 2022, Building Energy Exchange Kansas City and Building Energy Exchange St. Louis will serve their respective regions with customized resources that cater to the needs of their communities while benefiting from the existing resources and expertise of New York’s Building Energy Exchange.