Methodology for developing Version 2.0 of the MECcheck{trademark} materials for the 1992, 1993, and 1995 Model Energy Codes

Abstract

To help builders comply with the Council of American Building Officials (CABO) Model Energy Code (MEC), and to help code officials enforce the MEC requirements, the US Department of Energy (DOE) directed Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to develop the MECcheck{trademark} compliance materials. The materials include a compliance and enforcement manual for all the MEC requirements, prescriptive packages, software, and a trade-off worksheet (included in the compliance manual) to help comply with the thermal envelope requirements. The 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 MEC. The materials were developed to provide compliance methods that are easy to use and understand. MECcheck compliance materials have been developed for three different editions of the MEC: the 1992, 1993, and 1995 editions. Although some requirements contained in the 1992, 1993, and 1995 MEC changed, the methodology used to develop the MECcheck materials for these three editions is essentially identical. This document explains the methodology used to produce the three MECcheck compliance approaches for meeting the MEC`s thermal envelope requirements--the prescriptive package approach, the software approach, and the trade-off approach. The MECcheck material are largely oriented to assisting the builder in meeting the most complicated part of the MEC--the building envelope U{sub o}-, U-, and R-value requirements in Section 502 of the MEC. This document details the calculations and assumptions underlying the treatment of the MEC requirements in MECcheck, with a major emphasis on the building envelope requirements.