Methodology for Developing the REScheckTM Software through Version 4.4.3

Abstract

The Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct, Public Law 102-486) establishes the 1992 Model Energy Code (MEC), published by the Council of American Building Officials (CABO), as the target for several energy-related requirements for residential buildings (CABO 1992). The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (via Rural Economic and Community Development [RECD] [formerly Farmers Home Administration]) are required to establish standards for government-assisted housing that “meet or exceed the requirements of the Council of American Building Officials Model Energy Code, 1992.” CABO issued 1992, 1993, and 1995 editions of the MEC (CABO 1992, 1993, and 1995). Effective December 4, 1995, CABO assigned all rights and responsibilities for the MEC to the International Code Council (ICC). The first edition of the ICC’s International Energy Conservation Code (ICC 1998) issued in 1998 therefore replaced the 1995 edition of the MEC. The 1998 IECC incorporates the provisions of the 1995 MEC and includes the technical content of the MEC as modified by approved changes from the 1995, 1996, and 1997 code development cycles. The ICC subsequently issued the 2000 edition of the IECC (ICC 1999). Many states and local jurisdictions have adopted one edition of the MEC or IECC as the basis for their energy code. In a Federal Register notice issued January 10, 2001 (FR Vol. 99, No. 7, page 1964), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) concluded that the 1998 and 2000 editions of the IECC improve energy efficiency over the 1995 MEC. DOE has previously issued notices that the 1993 and 1995 MEC also improved energy efficiency compared to the preceding editions. To help builders comply with the MEC and IECC requirements, and to help HUD, RECD, and state and local code officials enforce these code requirements, DOE tasked Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) with developing the MECcheck™ compliance materials. In November 2002, MECcheck was renamed REScheck™ to better identify it as a residential code compliance tool. The “MEC” in MECcheck was outdated because it was taken from the Model Energy Code, which has been succeeded by the IECC. The “RES” in REScheck is also a better fit with the companion commercial product, COMcheck™. The easy-to-use REScheck compliance materials include a compliance and enforcement manual for all the MEC and IECC requirements and three compliance approaches for meeting the code’s thermal envelope requirements-prescriptive packages, software, and a trade-off worksheet (included in the compliance manual). The compliance materials can be used for single-family and low-rise multifamily dwellings. The materials allow building energy efficiency measures (such as insulation levels) to be “traded off” against each other, allowing a wide variety of building designs to comply with the code. This report explains the methodology used to develop Version 4.4.3 of the REScheck software developed for the 1992, 1993, and 1995 editions of the MEC, and the 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2012 editions of the IECC, and the 2006 edition of the International Residential Code (IRC). Although some requirements contained in these codes have changed, the methodology used to develop the REScheck software for these editions is similar. Beginning with REScheck Version 4.4.0, support for 1992, 1993, and 1995 MEC and the 1998 IECC is no longer included, but those sections remain in this document for reference purposes. REScheck assists builders in meeting the most complicated part of the code-the building envelope Uo-, U-, and R-value requirements in Section 502 of the code. This document details the calculations and assumptions underlying the treatment of the code requirements in REScheck, with a major emphasis on the building envelope requirements.

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