NEEA Code Baseline and Assumption Review

The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) contracted with Industrial Economics, Incorporated (IEc) and Resource Refocus to conduct a review of its Natural Market Baselines for commercial and residential energy codes in the Northwest. Based on findings from interviews with individuals familiar with Northwest and national building energy code development and a review of codes savings evaluation approaches from across the country, IEc and Resource Refocus concluded that NEEA’s current methodology for defining Natural Market Baselines for codes is generally reasonable and appropriate. The evaluators also provided recommendations for improving the approach, including: 

• NEEA should conduct analyses to establish separate baseline assumptions for each energy code update, state, and sector (residential and commercial). 

• As part of the process to establish baseline assumptions, NEEA should more clearly define, document, and communicate the role of its partners.  

• Based on an independent qualitative assessment of NEEA and its partners’ role in a specific code cycle, NEEA should adjust code baselines to reflect the number of code cycles, ranging from one to three code cycles, that NEEA and its partners’ work likely accelerated code adoption.  

NEEA intends to accept these recommendations. A more detailed response to the evaluator’s recommendations is provided at the end of the report.