Authors
Skye Gruen, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
Marshall Duer-Balkind and Cherylyn Kelley, Institute for Market Transformation
Abstract
Energy codes and building performance policies, such as building performance standards (BPS), share a common objective: improving building energy performance while supporting broader climate and affordability goals. Codes establish minimum standards for the design and construction of new buildings, additions and significant alterations, while building performance policies target the measured performance of existing buildings absent any building permit activity. In principle, these policies should function as components of a continuous regulatory system governing building performance across the building lifecycle. In practice, however, they remain siloed in separate institutional structures with different metrics, compliance pathways, and enforcement mechanisms.
This paper argues that misalignment between energy codes and building performance policies arises primarily from a structural break at occupancy—a lifecycle discontinuity in which policy design, governance, and compliance responsibility all shift. This discontinuity limits the ability of construction-phase requirements to reliably translate into operational outcomes. Without mechanisms connecting these phases, buildings that comply with code may nevertheless struggle to meet future operational requirements once occupied.
Drawing on prior research and new case studies from Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia, this paper identifies three policy interventions that strengthen continuity across the occupancy threshold: (1) designing codes around future operational objectives, (2) maintaining accountability through the occupancy transition using complementary policies, and (3) using compliance modeling to evaluate readiness to meet future operational requirements.
Together, these interventions reduce the lifecycle discontinuity at occupancy and reposition energy codes as the first component of a continuous regulatory system.
