Find helpful research and reports here

Provided below are select resources and reports from NCBPA and industry organizations containing market research and trends on the benefits of home and building performance, the importance of key policies and more.

2020 How Energy Efficiency Can Help Rebuild North Carolina’s Economy

Author: ACEEE

Publish Date: September 23, 2020

With extensive participation and wealth of data, reports and comment contributions from NCBPA and our Member partners, The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) recently released the finalized report on the rebuilding of North Carolina’s economy by analyzing energy, greenhouse gas, and bill savings from several energy efficiency policies and programs recommended by stakeholders.  Included are enhanced utility programs, financing mechanisms, building code and benchmarking policies, and programs for underserved sectors, including low-income customers, affordable multifamily housing, and industrial and agricultural customers.

The new report shows how the state’s executive branch, legislature, utilities commission and utilities can expand efficiency investments and policies to support economic recovery while helping ratepayers and protecting the climate.  The measures analyzed in the report could trim the state’s growing electricity needs by nearly one-fifth by 2040.

Click here to download the full report.

2020 North Carolina Building Performance Industry Workforce Development Report

Author: NCBPA

Publish Date: April 27, 2020

Since 2017, NCBPA has been leading efforts to understand and prioritize our industry’s most important workforce development needs. Following our second North Carolina Building Performance Workforce Development Summit this past February, NCBPA began compiling these findings and recommendations into a report.  Today, we are pleased to release the report in its current state to provide an improved understanding of the workforce opportunities we identified prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, with strong support from member companies and the NC Community College System, in particular.  The 64-page report includes a summary of our industry’s pre-COVID-19 workforce development challenges and opportunities, a sample proposal outlining how grant funding would be used to improve our resources in North Carolina and other states across the country, and provides greater detail on key areas of our workforce development priorities.

Click here to read the report.

2019 Duke Energy Energy Efficiency Collaborative Results

Author: NCBPA

Publish Date: January 27, 2020

Since early 2018, NCBPA has been an active participant in Duke Energy’s Energy Efficiency Collaborative to help improve and expand the utility’s energy efficiency programs in North Carolina and South Carolina.  In this report NCBPA details progress made during calendar year 2019 and summarizes plans for 2020.  Read this report to learn how NCBPA, energy efficiency advocates and Duke Energy are working together to bring greater energy efficiency opportunities to North Carolina and South Carolina.

Click here to read the report.

2018 Workforce Development Summit Results

Author: NCBPA

Publish Date: November 20, 2018

Our  Summit event held on September 20th in Raleigh was a tremendous success thanks to the more than 60 industry professionals that attended and our excellent Sponsors and Facilitators.  Since the event ended, the NCBPA Team has been processing and compiling the results, recommendations and best practices provided by attendees and speakers.  Today, we’re pleased to release the second part of our final report.  Be on the lookout for part three in the coming weeks.

Members and survey participants – click here to download the report (password protected).  Need the password?  Email us at Info@BuildingNC.org.

NCBPA’s 2018 Commercial Industry Survey

Author: NCBPA

Publish Date: October 1, 2018

What do commercial architects, builders, contractors and others need to be successful in our market?  What are their greatest challenges and where do they find the most success?  These questions and many more (51 in total!) are answered in NCBPA’s 2018 Commercial Industry Survey.  42 individual respondents took the time to answer a wealth of questions from NCBPA regarding where the industry is now and what they need to be more successful.  Categories include architecture, building commissioning, automation and controls, workforce development and more!  The results of this survey are available to NCBPA members and survey participants only.  Not a member?  Join NCBPA today to gain access to this important industry insight!

Members and survey participants – click here to download the report (password protected)

NCBPA’s 2018 North Carolina Energy Efficiency Potential Report

Author: NCBPA

Publish Date: September 25, 2018

The North Carolina Energy Efficiency Potential Report provides comprehensive quantitative data to inform policymakers, utilities, industry professionals, consumers and others of the widespread benefits available through an underutilized energy efficiency market in the state. Written by NCBPA, the report is a compilation of research reports, case studies and new analysis detailing how North Carolina’s energy sector, environment, economy, workforce and consumers would benefit from increased utilization of the state’s already strong, but vastly underutilized, energy efficiency market. The report recommends state and local policy development and related initiatives that collect utility and market data needed to prioritize the policy recommendations.  Economic impact estimates resulting from these policy actions follow, focusing on job creation, local economic development and environmental benefits. To conclude, the report recommends new legislation that sets in motion the studies, initiatives and strategies needed to advance the use of energy efficiency in North Carolina.

Click here to download a print version of the report (single pages).

Click here to download a web version of the report (side-by-side pages).

Click here to read our press release announcing the report.

Search Twitter for hashtag #ThatsBuildingPerformance to view social media posts about the report.

NCBPA’s 2018 Residential Industry Survey

Author: NCBPA

Publish Date: August 1, 2018

What do residential architects, builders, contractors and others need to be successful in our market?  What are their greatest challenges and where do they find the most success?  These questions and many more (73 in total!) are answered in NCBPA’s 2018 Residential Industry Survey.  91 individual respondents took the time to answer a wealth of questions from NCBPA regarding where the industry is now and what they need to be more successful.  Categories include architecture, new construction, crawlspaces, HVAC, workforce development and more!  The results of this survey are available to NCBPA members and survey participants only.  Not a member?  Join NCBPA today to gain access to this important industry insight!

Members and survey participants – click here to download the report (password protected).  Need the password?  Email us at Info@BuildingNC.org.

NCBPA’s 2017 Annual Energy Efficient, Green and High Performance Home and Building Inventory Report

Author: NCBPA

Publish Date: March 12, 2018

NCBPA’s 2017 Inventory Report identifies 34,152 high performance homes and buildings being built or retrofitted in the state in 2016 and finds a 9.5% price premium for high performance homes sold in three of North Carolina’s metro markets between 2015 and 2016.  Since 2007, the report identifies 198,525 high performance homes and buildings in the state.  Each year, the report analyzes data from certification and rating programs used to measure homes and buildings for energy efficient, green and high performance features.  The 2017 report includes what is believed to be the most comprehensive high performance home sale price analysis performed to date in the country, which compares the prices of 3,908 high performance homes sold in the Charlotte, Triad and Triangle markets between 2015 and 2016 to all other home sales.

Click here to download the report.

Click here to read our press release announcing the report.

Search Twitter for hashtag #ThatsBuildingPerformance to view social media posts about the report.

Additional news articles about this report include:

NCBPA’s 2018-2024-2030 High Performance Home and Building Design & Feature Forecast

Author: NCBPA

Publish Date: April 27, 2018

Where are North Carolina’s minimum code standards and high performance building options headed? NCBPA’s spring 2018 Architectural Intern Henderson Beck performed in-depth research to find out!  This research culminated in a 1-hour webinar presenting key changes to NC’s upcoming 2018 residential and commercial energy code as well as forecasts of high performance design, construction and product features that may be included in the 2024 and 2030 codes.

Click here to view a recording of this webinar.

The Business Case for Energy Efficiency: How Investing in Less Creates More for North Carolina

Author: NCBPA

Publish Date: October 17, 2017

This report provides recommendations for North Carolina policy makers, regulators and utilities to enable economic development, job creation and building infrastructure resiliency through new and increased investment in energy efficiency.  The seven recommendations are:

  1. Utility and Regulatory Environment: Expand and modernize utility energy efficiency programs and the regulatory environment that regulates them to achieve at least 1% net utility energy efficiency savings by 2023.

  2. Building and Energy Codes: Adopt and provide education on improved building and energy codes, add an energy seat to the NC Building Code Council and promote above-code utility energy efficiency incentive programs.

  3. Reduce Market and Regulatory Barriers to Entry: Support increased consumer education, decreased regulatory hurdles and offer public/private consumer financing programs to enable increased participation in energy efficient construction.

  4. Energy, Water and Performance Benchmarking: Create and implement a statewide plan that establishes voluntary and mandatory energy, water and performance benchmarking in homes and buildings.

  5. Multifamily and Low-Income Financial Barriers: Reduce the financial barriers that prevent builders, owners, occupants and federally-funded programs from participating in energy efficient construction in multifamily and low-income homes and buildings.

  6. Strategic State Support and Resources: Reinforce and increase the current low-level of state support for public entities involved with energy efficiency and establish an energy roadmap that prioritizes using less before creating new

  7. Workforce Development: Expand state and local support for workforce development programs that train students and displaced workers to fill the vital need for more skilled workers in the state’s energy efficiency trades

Click here to download a copy of the full report.  Click here to download a checklist of the recommendations only.

Increasing Homeowner Demand for Energy Efficiency Retrofits: Recommendations

Author: Duke University, Nicholas School of the Environment, Masters Program Students

Publish Date: April 26, 2017

NCBPA worked with students from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment on this valuable report completed on April 26, 2017.   Click here to access the report.

Abstract: With rising concern aimed at energy consumption and its environmental impacts, efforts are being made to conserve energy across the United States. Nearly half of all domestic energy use is dedicated to homes and buildings. Despite significant strides by the homebuilding industry to design new energy efficient structures, a significant portion of the current housing stock includes inefficient, poor-performing homes. The North Carolina Building Performance Association (NCBPA) tasked us with identifying the barriers preventing homeowners from investing in home energy retrofits and offering pertinent recommendations to address these roadblocks. Through an exhaustive review of current literature and key insight from industry leaders, we distilled the many barriers into four areas: consumer education, home valuation, financing, and marketing. Our recommendations include building-out NCBPA consumer education website, hiring of a full-time data manager to create an inventory focused on capturing metrics surrounding home valuation, developing a conjoint marketing plan to target specific audiences, and continuing to push for commercial PACE and on-bill financing in North Carolina.

2016 Annual Energy Efficient, Green and High Performance Home and Building Inventory Report

Author: NCBPA

Publish Date: December 4, 2016

NCBPA’s 2016 study identified 180,640 energy efficient, green and high performance homes and buildings as being built or retrofitted in the state from 2007 to 2015.  In the second year of this first-of-a-kind study, the association believes that this volume places North Carolina in the top five states nationally for energy efficient, green and high performance construction volume and saturation. ​

The study’s 2015 results demonstrate that North Carolina remains a national leader in the construction of energy efficient, green and high performance homes and buildings:

  • The study identified 39,110 units as being built or retrofitted in 2015, which equates to nearly 63% of the roughly 62,000 new and existing units built or retrofitted in the state during the year.

  • Beginning in 2007, North Carolina has experienced an annual increase in the number of units reported.  However, 2015 was the first year of lower total units reported, down 1,354 (~3%) from the 2014 peak of 40,464 units.

Click here to download a copy of the full report.  Click here to download the press release.

2015 Annual Energy Efficient, Green and High Performance Home and Building Inventory Report

Author: UNC Charlotte EPIC, NCBPA

Publish Date: September 18, 2015

In 2015, NCBPA completed a first-of-its-kind market study to inventory as many of a state’s energy efficient, green and high performance homes and buildings as possible for the purposes of better understanding the quantity of units in North Carolina, defining areas of strong and weak saturation, and increasing engagement from industry stakeholders seeking to increase the number of units being built and retrofitted in the state.

Results from the 2015 study, performed with UNC Charlotte’s Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC) resulted in the identification of more than 122,000 North Carolina homes and buildings built or retrofitted since 2007 as being energy efficient, green or high performance through primarily third party energy efficiency and green building certification programs and rating systems.

Click here to download a copy of the report.  Click here for a PDF presentation.  Click here for the press release.

Additional Resources

Here are links to additional helpful resources, reports and research: