Institute for Market Transformation
The Institute for Market Transformation (IMT) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of energy efficiency, green building and environmental protection in the United States and abroad. The organization’s activities include technical and market research, educational outreach, and the crafting of building codes and other policy and program initiatives. Much of IMT’s work addresses market failures that inhibit investment in efficiency and green buildings.
With funding from the Energy Foundation, IMT is currently involved in a national movement to strengthen building energy codes and to mandate energy efficiency rating and disclosure for commercial buildings. Internationally, IMT is working under contract with the United Nations Development Programme to promote energy efficiency in the building sectors of Kazakhstan and the Kyrgyz Republic.
IMT is currently advertising a job opening.
National and International News
As part of a growing movement, IMT is working on ENERGY STAR benchmarking mandates for commercial buildings. IMT is working with several other organizations representing interested stakeholders, and the work is supported by the Energy Foundation. Visit our Benchmarking and Disclosure program page for more information and resources.
IMT is a subcontractor to the New Buildings Institute, assisting in the creation of the COMNET commercial building modeling and evaluation specifications. COMNET will work with and complement existing commercial building energy rating systems. The work is being supported by the Energy Foundation. For more information on this project, read our introduction to COMNET. See our introductory COMNET slide-show. View a detailed narrative technical presentation by the COMNET technical lead.
June 30, 2009: USGBC to Monitor Energy Performance of LEED Buildings
June 26, 2009: The U.S. House of Representatives approved the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) bill 219 to 212. The bill would transform the U.S. economy in four decades, replacing most US carbon dioxide emissions and fossil fuel consumption with a clean energy economy built around energy efficiency and renewable energy. The CBO estimates that the net annual cost of the legislation would be approximately $175 per household in 2020. This analysis comes on the heels of a new study that found 1.7 million jobs would be created by the clean energy legislation. ACEEE estunates that the bill could save $4,400 per household and generate 770,000 jobs by 2030. IMT research influenced two building efficiency provisions of the bill. The building energy labeling provision was narrowed. The bill retained its strongbuilding energy code provision. The fate of energy and climate legislation now depends on the Senate and its committees.
June 26, 2009: IMT's Cliff Majersik quoted in AIA article, "Measuring Sustainability Performance Means Establishing Design Value"
June 1, 2009: AIA and NBI are co-sponsoring proposal to strengthen by 25% the efficiency requirements for commercial buildings of the 2012 International Energy Conserviation Code (IECC). The Core Building Energy Efficiency Code is also a best-practice model for state and local adoption. Article
June 1, 2009: ENERGY STAR provides sample text for state and local governments to integrate ENERGY STAR into EECBG Activity Worksheets.
May 21, 2009: NY Times article "The Race for Better Building Codes" describes states racing to strengthen their building energy codes, partially in response to the new federal Recovery Act.
May 15, 2009: IMT in the news - Massachusetts voted to adopt a stretch energy code, based on New Buildings Institute's Core Performance, that would make new commercial buildings under 100,000 square feet up to 30 percent more energy efficient than base standards. The article includes IMT's preliminary study that suggests that advanced building codes such as those put forth by MA could create 20,000 jobs nationally.
May 8, 2009: Washington state's Governor Gregoire signed a comprehensive efficiency law today that includes provisions for commercial building benchmarking, a 70% increase in building energy efficiency through building energy codes by 2031, and the establishment of performance standards for publicly owned and leased buildings. The NW Energy Coalition published an article summarizing the provisions of the law. The Puget Sound Business Journal's article examines impacts of the law, including the estimated jobs created by efficiency measures. See IMT's document comparing benchmarking laws.
May 1, 2009: ASHRAE released the third public review draft of ASHRAE/USGBC/IESNA/BSR Standard 189.1P which was open for comment through June 15th. The non-government members of the DC GBAC submitted a comment in support of the draft.
April 22, 2009: Mayor Bloomberg and the New York City council introduce legislation that aims to make major cuts in energy use in accordance with PlaNYC. The bills include a benchmarking bill, energy code bill, audits and retrofits bill, and a lighting upgrades bill. Read the April 22 NYTimes article City Plans to Make Older Buildings Refit to Save Energy. Read the April 22 NY Post article Landlords Will Need More Green. New York's initiatives were featured in two CoStar articles on May 1, Bloomberg Pushes Energy E fficiency Laws for New York Buildings and A Big Win for Energy-Efficient Product Makers.
April 15, 2009: Co-Star's article Institutional Investors Pay More for Energy-Efficient Buildings, Study Finds, reports on an academic study revised in March 2009. The study finds that institutional investment firms are recognizing the enhanced market value of energy-efficient property and factoring it into their real estate investments.
February 18, 2009: CoStar's article on the upcoming launch of the ASHRAE Building Energy Label quotes IMT's Cliff Majersik.
Mid-Atlantic Energy Efficiency and Green Building News
DC quick links:
June 10, 2009: IMT's Cliff Majersik and USGBC's Brendan Owens led a DC 2010 Building Code and ASHRAE Standard 189.1P Draft Review Session sponsored by the DC Building Industry Association (DCBIA). Three slideshows: DC building code status/process, ASHRAE Standard 189.1 and Core Performance Energy Code
May 27, 2009: IMT's Cliff Majersik led a DC 2010 Building Code and ASHRAE Standard 189.1 Draft Review Session co-sponsored by the DC Green Building Advisory Council and the DC Building Industry Association (DCBIA).
May 7, 2009: Maryland's Governor O'Malley signs the
"Maryland Building Performance Standards - Energy Conservation and Efficiency Act" (SB625) into law. It adopts IECC 2009 and accelerates future state and local building energy code adoptions. IMT's Cliff Majersik testified in committee on the bill. Fiscal and policy note. Read the Bill. Bill Summary from the Building Codes Assistance Project. See Bill Signing.
DC's Green Building Act requires the Mayor to submit to the City Council by 1/1/2010 new building codes "that shall incorporate as many green building practices as practicable…” With that in mind, there is news regarding three model building codes that DC is tracking:
- May 1, 2009: ASHRAE released the third public review draft of ASHRAE/USGBC/IESNA/BSR Standard 189.1P which is open for comment through June 15th.
- May 12: The Massachusetts Informative Appendix is a local option stretch code designed to be roughly 20% more energy efficient than the 2009 IECC. The commercial portion of the Informative Appendix is based on the requirements of the New Buildings Institute Core Performance Guide. Article.
- Rockville, Maryland has proposed greening amendments to the 2006 I-codes including the 30% Solution (EC154) low-rise residential buildings; ASHRAE 90.1-2007, NBI Core, or ASHRAE AEDGs for all other buildings; commissioning using LEED requirements; Energy Star Homes and commercial buildings requirements; and green code amendments including low-flow plumbing fixture requirements modeled on Washington, DC codes. In addition, buildings over 7,000 square feet must provide a LEED checklist demonstrating that they are LEED certifiable.
April 22, 2009: The District of Columbia's "Green DC Agenda" details the city's commitments to improve the environment. The commitments include the energy efficiency building codes that will improve residential efficiency by 30 percent, the expansion of green collar jobs, and LEED Silver green building standards for all public buildings.
April 20, 2009: Alexandria adopts green building policy including LEED Silver for new commercial construction and LEED Certified for residential construction.
April 17, 2009: Maryland passed a law to improve the state's building energy codes, enacting SB 625. The law adopts the IECC as the model energy code; grants authority for the Department of Housing and Community Development to strengthen the model code; prohibits state or local amendments to weaken the model code; and requires local jurisdiction to begin enforcement of the code no later than six months after adoption of the standards. IMT was part of the coalition of organizations that supported the bill, with Executive Director Cliff Majersik testifying in favor of the bill.
Arlington County is disclosing detailed energy information for all 67 of its government owned-buildings, bringing transparency to its pledge to reduce carbon emissions.
Under contract to the Washington DC Economic Partnership, IMT helped the DC government to commission a green jobs study. Published in February 2009, the study features economic research and modeling to project the number of new green jobs that will be created in DC in the coming years. It also includes best practices profiles of green-job policies and findings from focus groups. DC's Office of Planning lead the project. Article.
The February issue of the District of Columbia Building Industry Association's Pipeline includes an article by IMT: Energy-Saving Actions Yield High Returns -- And Attract Tenants.
News
The headquarters building of Pepco Holdings Inc., the Mid-Atlantic electric utility, has become the first property in the District of Columbia earn LEED certification under the LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (LEED EBOM) plat...
Its new-store pipeline has been scaled back, but Starbucks is moving ahead with firmer environmental measures at the stores it still plans to open. Over the next few years, the Seattle-based coffee company said it would strive for LEED certificati...
I wanted to take a moment and thank all of the Green Building Law Update readers. You all have been blowing my minds the last few weeks. There has been a surge in comments and discussions that take place after my original post. Many times, thes...
As I mentioned in my June 24 post, starting June 26, the USGBC eliminated public CIRs in order to improve the functionality of the LEED rating system. The USGBC's Peter Templeton provided the following explanation for eliminating the public CIRs:...
DOE has offered $59 million in conditional loan guarantees to Nordic Windpower USA and Beacon Power. Nordic Windpower's loan guarantee will support the expansion of its assembly plant in Pocatello, Idaho, while Beacon Power's loan guarante...
If your gas-guzzling vehicle is on its last leg, but you've been putting off buying a new, more fuel-efficient car, new federal rebates of up to $4,500 might be the incentive you need to head to your local dealer. That's the thought behind a...
DOE has offered $59 million in conditional loan guarantees to Nordic Windpower USA and Beacon Power. Nordic Windpower's loan guarantee will support the expansion of its assembly plant in Pocatello, Idaho, while Beacon Power's loan guarante...
If your gas-guzzling vehicle is on its last leg, but you've been putting off buying a new, more fuel-efficient car, new federal rebates of up to $4,500 might be the incentive you need to head to your local dealer. That's the thought behind a...
