Dept. of Energy publishes RFP for technical assistance on supporting better building codes

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Technologies Office (BTO) has released a new Request for Proposal to advance building energy codes.

The aim is to provide technical assistance to help address the needs of state and local governments to develop “advanced standards built on innovative technologies and strategies to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and helping ensure that the benefits of energy-efficient and resilient buildings can be realized by all Americans.”

The DOE is looking to partner with entities “who are uniquely positioned to provide this technical assistance, and support DOE in addressing the range of critical factors. These include navigating national and regional building design and construction issues, responding to the needs of states and local communities, helping them update their codes and take advantage of the latest design and construction standards, and in communicating the benefits of modern building energy codes to their citizenry.”

The RFP covers:

· Stretch Codes

· Building Performance Standards

· Energy and Resilience Planning

· Energy Justice

· Energy Jobs and Workforce Development

· Role of Building Energy Codes

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.