• At November’s ASHRAE Idaho event, the UI IDL presented the most cost-effective strategies engineers can use to minimize energy use when designing a new multifamily or mixed-use project. The presentation included sharing information from a recent U.S. Department of Energy study on the major energy uses in multifamily buildings in Idaho, along with new and existing code requirements around ventilation and noise transmission. The lab also shared regional case studies and information from ASHRAE’s Advanced Energy Design Guide to inspire creative design for future multifamily developments in Idaho, tailored to the southern Idaho and eastern Oregon climate.
• In December, the lab hosted a five-hour continuing education program on commercial energy code compliance in Idaho. The day covered five topics, including lighting allowances and power requirements, lighting control strategies, envelope regulations, ventilation controls, and performance-based compliance. While Idaho is now on an amended 2018 IECC energy code, a proposal is currently before the state legislature to adopt an amended version of the 2024 family of codes. The lab will follow this proposal closely and provide an update on the outcome in the next quarterly newsletter.

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• In November, the MSU IDL organized a daylong professional workshop for architects and builders across Montana. The workshop featured both national and local speakers and included in-depth discussions on residential building practices and energy codes specific to Montana, with particular attention to recent code updates and compliance pathways, and their implications for design and construction. Presentations also highlighted practical strategies for improving building performance, bridging regulatory requirements with real-world applications. The program concluded with a site visit to a high-performance residential building complex in Bozeman, allowing participants to observe these strategies in practice.
• The lab completed daylight and views analysis for LEED compliance for the Warrior of Quiet Waters building in Bozeman.

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• The UO IDL hosted the 2025 Build Health Symposium at the Swinerton office in Portland. This annual event is hosted by UO’s Institute for Health in the Built Environment (IHBE) Industry Consortium that brings together stakeholders in industry, government, and academia to dramatically reduce energy consumption and improve human health by advancing innovation through interdisciplinary collaboration. NEEA and UW IDL staff joined us as well, each showcasing some of their recent work and potential for future collaborations.
• The lab continues to support the State of Oregon Building Codes Division as they finalize the 2026 Oregon Residential Specialty Code (ORSC). Currently, we are revising energy calculations for the comparison between 2023 and 2026 ORSC. As it stands, we are also slated to begin the preliminary performance comparison of the 2026 ORSC and 2024 IECC. The 2026 ORSC has an anticipated mandatory adoption date of October 1, 2026, with a six-month phase-in period where both the 2023 and 2026 codes will be allowed.
• The lab hired a contractor to begin planning and fabricating a second version of the mass plywood panels (MPP) affordable housing prototype, developed in collaboration with the TallWood Design Institute. The lab is also looking to include testing of different residential HVAC systems as part of this second version. The house is built almost entirely from 2- and 3-inch prefabricated mass plywood panels. The first version was built and showcased at the Oregon State University A. A. “Red” Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Lab in late 2024.
• The lab is working with the TallWood Design Institute to explore opportunities to better integrate interior building systems (e.g., lighting, HVAC, plumbing, and acoustics) with prefabricated cross-laminated timber and MPP in modular housing construction. As part of a UO College of Design studio course, students will learn about mass timber housing construction and explore opportunities to improve integration between prefabricated panels and interior systems while optimizing energy efficiency.

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• UW IDL director Heather Burpee collaborated with NEEA’s Advanced Performance HVAC team to deliver a paired webinar and in-person building tour of the Metropole Project, a building upgrade that transformed a historic building into a community-focused office building. Driven by ambitious environmental goals and targeting LEED Platinum, the project showcases deep integration across design disciplines. The project team employed a whole-building approach, aligning architectural vision with advanced performance HVAC strategies to achieve exceptional overall building performance.
• The lab is developing case studies and gathering insights for the implementation of luminaire level lighting controls (LLLC) with an emphasis on learning from market actors who have not previously incorporated LLLC technology in their projects. This includes identifying case studies that showcase the innovative application of LLLC and lighting controls and design, including projects in healthcare, schools, office, and an award-winning project at the Washington State School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Vancouver, Wash.
• To inform updates to the Washington State Commercial Energy Code Webtool, the lab interviewed architects and engineers to better understand the tool’s benefits and barriers.
• The lab is working with the UW’s Life Cycle Lab on a four-year, ARPA-E funded project to develop a comprehensive life cycle analysis (LCA) framework and package of tools that can be used in whole-building LCA analysis. Key deliverables include quality control and documentation of a computational tool that calculates operational environmental impacts of electricity consumption over a building’s life cycle, as well as defining energy modeling parameters to create template buildings with calculated embodied and operational environmental impacts.

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• The WSU IDL released a Building HEROes podcast covering the International Energy Agency Annex 95’s work, which spans four interconnected themes: human–building interactions, community-scale equity and sufficiency, building design and retrofit strategies, and building operation and performance. Together, these efforts address complex challenges at the intersection of buildings, energy systems, and social outcomes.
• The lab’s work with the Human-Centric Buildings (HCB) Network resulted in an introductory journal article, Human-centric buildings for a changing climate: Introducing a new International Energy Agency research network. The article was published in Energy and Buildings, marking a key milestone in the collaboration.
• This fall, the lab continued implementing the Introduction to Smart Pumps module, developed in partnership with the Hydraulic Institute, in the WSU School of Design and Construction’s Building Science course. The two-semester course enrolls more than 100 architecture and construction management students and provides a comprehensive foundation in building science.
• The lab released a series of Building HEROes podcast episodes spotlighting the directors of IDLs across the region. These conversations highlight both the collective strength of the IDL network and the diverse, impactful work underway at each lab. Episodes included those featuring UI IDL, UW IDL, and UO IDL. All podcast episodes are available on popular streaming platforms and on our website.

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