The Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA) contracted Ecotope, Inc. to conduct a small Pilot Study to develop and test a methodology for commercial energy code evaluation. The insights from the Pilot Study will be applied to a large-scale commercial code evaluation in the Northwest. The methodology has an explicit energy focus and was designed to support efforts to decrease energy consumption in commercial buildings. Initially, the Pilot was intended to focus almost exclusively on an approach to commercial code compliance. However, it evolved into a broader code evaluation in order to respond to a more diverse set of goals and research questions. Code compliance is an important subset of the evaluation rather than the main objective. The methodology therefore includes a field review and compliance assessment of completed buildings, an enforcement assessment including interviews with building code officials, and an energy performance assessment.
