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Title: Building Code Compliance and Enforcement: The Experience of SanFrancisco's Residential Energy Conservation Ordinanace and California'sBuildign Standards for New Construction

Abstract

As part of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's (LBL) technical assistance to the Sustainable City Project, compliance and enforcement activities related to local and state building codes for existing and new construction were evaluated in two case studies. The analysis of the City of San Francisco's Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO) showed that a limited, prescriptive energy conservation ordinance for existing residential construction can be enforced relatively easily with little administrative costs, and that compliance with such ordinances can be quite high. Compliance with the code was facilitated by extensive publicity, an informed public concerned with the cost of energy and knowledgeable about energy efficiency, the threat of punishment (Order of Abatement), the use of private inspectors, and training workshops for City and private inspectors. The analysis of California's Title 24 Standards for new residential and commercial construction showed that enforcement of this type of code for many climate zones is more complex and requires extensive administrative support for education and training of inspectors, architects, engineers, and builders. Under this code, prescriptive and performance approaches for compliance are permitted, resulting in the demand for alternative methods of enforcement: technical assistance, plan review, field inspection, and computer analysis. In contrast to existing construction,more » building design and new materials and construction practices are of critical importance in new construction, creating a need for extensive technical assistance and extensive interaction between enforcement personnel and the building community. Compliance problems associated with building design and installation did occur in both residential and nonresidential buildings. Because statewide codes are enforced by local officials, these problems may increase over time as energy standards change and become more complex and as other standards (eg, health and safety codes) remain a higher priority. The California Energy Commission realizes that code enforcement by itself is insufficient and expects that additional educational and technical assistance efforts (eg, manuals, training programs, and toll-free telephone lines) will ameliorate these problems.« less

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
908155
Report Number(s):
LBL-29748
TRN: US200722%%503
DOE Contract Number:  
DE-AC02-05CH11231
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION; ARCHITECTS; BUILDING CODES; CALIFORNIA; COMPLIANCE; CONSTRUCTION; ENERGY CONSERVATION; ENERGY EFFICIENCY; ENFORCEMENT; LAWRENCE BERKELEY LABORATORY; PUBLIC BUILDINGS; TRAINING

Citation Formats

Vine, E. Building Code Compliance and Enforcement: The Experience of SanFrancisco's Residential Energy Conservation Ordinanace and California'sBuildign Standards for New Construction. United States: N. p., 1990. Web. doi:10.2172/908155.
Vine, E. Building Code Compliance and Enforcement: The Experience of SanFrancisco's Residential Energy Conservation Ordinanace and California'sBuildign Standards for New Construction. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/908155
Vine, E. 1990. "Building Code Compliance and Enforcement: The Experience of SanFrancisco's Residential Energy Conservation Ordinanace and California'sBuildign Standards for New Construction". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/908155. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/908155.
@article{osti_908155,
title = {Building Code Compliance and Enforcement: The Experience of SanFrancisco's Residential Energy Conservation Ordinanace and California'sBuildign Standards for New Construction},
author = {Vine, E},
abstractNote = {As part of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's (LBL) technical assistance to the Sustainable City Project, compliance and enforcement activities related to local and state building codes for existing and new construction were evaluated in two case studies. The analysis of the City of San Francisco's Residential Energy Conservation Ordinance (RECO) showed that a limited, prescriptive energy conservation ordinance for existing residential construction can be enforced relatively easily with little administrative costs, and that compliance with such ordinances can be quite high. Compliance with the code was facilitated by extensive publicity, an informed public concerned with the cost of energy and knowledgeable about energy efficiency, the threat of punishment (Order of Abatement), the use of private inspectors, and training workshops for City and private inspectors. The analysis of California's Title 24 Standards for new residential and commercial construction showed that enforcement of this type of code for many climate zones is more complex and requires extensive administrative support for education and training of inspectors, architects, engineers, and builders. Under this code, prescriptive and performance approaches for compliance are permitted, resulting in the demand for alternative methods of enforcement: technical assistance, plan review, field inspection, and computer analysis. In contrast to existing construction, building design and new materials and construction practices are of critical importance in new construction, creating a need for extensive technical assistance and extensive interaction between enforcement personnel and the building community. Compliance problems associated with building design and installation did occur in both residential and nonresidential buildings. Because statewide codes are enforced by local officials, these problems may increase over time as energy standards change and become more complex and as other standards (eg, health and safety codes) remain a higher priority. The California Energy Commission realizes that code enforcement by itself is insufficient and expects that additional educational and technical assistance efforts (eg, manuals, training programs, and toll-free telephone lines) will ameliorate these problems.},
doi = {10.2172/908155},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/908155}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1990},
month = {Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 1990}
}