Posts Tagged ‘thermal envelope’

Ten Problems with the Energy Code and Compliance

November 23, 2020
  1. Architects and engineers don’t know enough about it. This is especially true regarding the different code compliance path options, area-averaging U-factors and C-factors, the compliance restrictions due to based on a project’s Window Wall Ratio (WWR), and the requirements for an Additional Efficiency Package Option (AEPO).
  2. Authorities Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) don’t always enforce the code as well as they should. Not only does this allow projects to be built that will use more energy than that of a code-compliant design, but it keeps the design and construction team from receiving much-needed feedback.
  3. Manufacturers of some building wraps that are airtight but not self-adhering or self-sealing around staples, nails, or screws advertise their products as serving as a building’s air barrier. There is no practical way to install these products so that they function as an effective air barrier.
  4. Home improvement centers provide no information about residential energy code compliance such as insulation requirements, air barrier installation, and guidance on weatherization projects.
  5. Many insulation companies are not trained or familiar with installing air barriers. Insulation companies should be certified and prevented from installing insulation without assessing and improving a building’s air barrier, and testing air tightness before and after the work.
  6. Roofing companies regularly replace roofs with insulation above the deck without upgrading the code-required insulation and air barrier requirements. Roofing companies should be certified and prevented from reroofing a building without assessing the need for improving the roof’s thermal envelope.
  7. The code is not clear that reroofing an existing non-historic building with no roof insulation requires installation of insulation and an air barrier.
  8. Fenestration replacement companies do not offer products with code-compliant information. Fenestration manufacturers should be required to identify the code-required U-factors, SHGC, and VT (where appropriate) of their products and identify the prescriptive requirements of fenestration in the climate zones of the markets in which they do business.
  9. The code is not specific or clear than the increases in U-factors at linear thermal bridging elements such as at steel shelf angles, balconies, and roof canopies, must be taken into account for code compliance.
  10. The code is not clear about thermal requirements for installing a roof on abandoned buildings that will someday be thermally conditioned.

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