State Savings Calculator analyzes savings associated with energy codes

The U.S. Department of Energy has made available a State Savings Calculator that assesses the cost-effectiveness of updated editions of energy codes broken down by state.

DOE assesses the savings associated with updated editions of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1: Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential buildings and 2015 IECC for Commercial Buildings. DOE data includes both national and custom state-level analyses.

The State Savings Calculator provides a means of tailoring state-level cost-effectiveness analysis. This interactive tool mimics the overall DOE methodology, but allows for customized economic assumptions and other parameters that may vary on a state-by-state basis.

These include parameters such as local cost adjustments, energy prices and escalation rates, inflation and taxes, loan terms, and the overall study period used for the analysis.

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.