The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) contracted with Ecotope, Inc. to quantify the energy use, energy savings and incremental costs for residential codes in Oregon. Ecotope compared the 2017 and 2014 residential energy code for single-family (including townhomes) and low-rise multifamily units, defined as 3-stories or less.
Study objectives include:
- Calculating average expected energy use per home under the new Oregon Residential Specialty Code (ORSC), specifically Chapter 11 of the ORSC relating to Energy Efficiency.
- Calculating the incremental savings due to code improvements for each heating type and climate for single-family and low-rise multifamily scenarios.
- Estimating new construction incremental costs of the ORSC for both single-family and low-rise multifamily.
The study analysis estimated incremental energy savings and costs for the most recent round of the ORSC change from 2014 to 2017. The estimated savings of the new code were calculated as a weighted average of all construction types, heating system types and climates in a given category. Further, the final estimates consider both the electric and gas savings separately and represent 6.1% of the estimated energy use of the homes built to the 2014 ORSC.
