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Throughline · Outcome-based codes

From “no basis” to the standards owners meet today

An outcome-based code regulates how a building actually performs, not how it was designed. Washington's Clean Buildings Performance Standard and Seattle's Building Emissions Performance Standard are both outcome-based. I first studied whether Seattle could adopt one, found the answer was no, and have worked on what these codes and standards need to work ever since.

  1. STUDY · GRADUATE RESEARCH

  2. 2012

    Could Seattle adopt an outcome-based code?

    In June 2012, the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Preservation Green Lab hired me as a graduate research intern to answer whether Seattle could adopt an outcome-based energy code. The answer was “not yet”: there was no legal authority to require measured performance, and not enough reliable building data to set and enforce targets. Seattle's 2012 Energy Code took a voluntary route instead: a Target Performance Path, verified against actual energy use and enforced through agreements recorded on each project's title. Getting the answer early let the Green Lab close the project and redirect the work into its later publications, and it named the two gaps that Washington's Clean Buildings Act and years of benchmarking would later close.

  3. BUILDING MANAGEMENT · PIERCE COUNTY

  4. 2016–2019

    Measuring a portfolio's performance

    As Pierce County's Resource Conservation Manager, I managed energy and water across 2.5 million square feet and more than 50 sites served by seven energy and eight water utilities. I led the rollout of management software tied to ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, and weather-normalized EUI improved 27% across the portfolio.

  5. RULES · THE CLEAN BUILDINGS ACT

  6. 2019–2020

    In the room for rulemaking

    Washington's Clean Buildings Act created the legal basis in 2019. I took part in the Department of Commerce's rulemaking workshops from the 2019 kickoff through mid-2020, giving regular input on targets, building types, and compliance pathways, first for Pierce County as an owner who would have to comply, then for Stillwater Energy while designing compliance help for utilities.

  7. COMPLIANCE · HELPING PEOPLE MEET IT

  8. 2020–2023

    The Clean Buildings Accelerator

    Small-group coaching and compliance planning for owners. My part: key program design for Puget Sound Energy's first Accelerator at Stillwater (and a regional concept in 2021) and Ecotope's technical partnership on Seattle's version from 2022 through 2023.

    See the Accelerator timeline
  9. 2021

    Preparing to Meet the Clean Buildings Law

    I developed and led this workshop and webinar series with the Smart Buildings Center and regional utilities, one of the first public series on the standard: Getting to Efficiency, Tune-ups for Clean Buildings, Energy Management Plans, and O&M for Clean Buildings.

  10. 2022–2024

    Qualified Person for a large public venue

    Project manager and, with Ecotope engineer Morgan Heater, Qualified Person for the Seattle Convention Center's Energy Management Plan and O&M program under the Clean Buildings standard, as a subconsultant to Siemens, with ASHRAE Level 2 audit support, billing analysis, and controls review.

  11. ALIGNMENT · CODES THAT FIT TOGETHER

  12. 2021–2024

    Lining up the energy code with performance standards

    On the Shift Zero Energy Code & Standards Team, I worked on commercial code proposals at the state and Seattle levels to align the energy code with the Clean Buildings standard and BEPS. I co-authored NEEA's white paper on aligning the State Energy Code with Clean Buildings and served on the Housing Development Consortium's task force on Seattle's BEPS.

  13. Dec 2023

    Seattle adds its own standard

    The City Council passes the Building Emissions Performance Standard, extending performance requirements to roughly 4,000 buildings.

  14. 2024

    Performance written into zoning

    For the City of Redmond, I drafted zoning code provisions that use building performance to reward dense, all-electric, low-EUI development. The City adopted them into the zoning code as RZC 21.67.

  15. TOOLS · THE DATA SIDE

  16. 2026

    Threshold

    The data gap the early research found is still where compliance work stalls. Threshold screens buildings against both standards: EUI and GHGI targets, the gap, the deadline, penalty exposure, and pathways, from reviewed Portfolio Manager data.

    How compliance teams use Threshold