Why Design our Codes This Way?

Denver has a goal for all new buildings and homes to achieve Zero Emissions by 2030.

Why is that Denver's Goal?

Buildings and Homes are responsible for 64% of Denver’s greenhouse gas emissions. However, a building or home that is Zero Emissions does not contribute to greenhouse gas emissions once the local grid is decarbonized. More than that, zero emissions buildings are more comfortable, have better health outcomes, and increase productivity and quality of life for occupants and the neighborhood. Zero Emissions new buildings are:

• Highly efficient
• All-electric
• Grid resilient and responsive to the grid
• Powered by systemwide renewable energy

 Xcel Energy provides all the electricity that Denver purchases. Xcel Energy is on track to reduce carbon emissions from their electrical grid by 85% by 2030 by producing electricity with renewables, such as solar and wind. Since Zero Emissions new buildings and homes are all-electric, these buildings only use only electricity to heat, cool, and operate. They do not rely on the use of fossil fuels. These all-electric buildings can take advantage of the work Xcel Energy is doing to create a cleaner renewable grid. This is not the case if the building still uses natural gas or other fossil fuels. 

The chart below shows Xcel Energy’s grid moving towards lower carbon emissions by 2030. This is known as "decarbonizing the grid." The closer the line gets to 100% carbon emission reduction, the less greenhouse gas emissions Colorado’s grid produces. Through Senate Bill 19-236, the Colorado Legislature has required electric utilities to decarbonize the electric grid by 80% by 2030.  Xcel Energy has voluntarily exceeded that target and filed a plan that achieves at least an 85% emissions reduction by 2030.  

A Path to Zero Emissions for Commercial Buildings

About 20% of Denver’s greenhouse gas emissions come from burning fossil gas. Buildings and homes use 97% of this gas for space and hot water heating. The Denver Building Code and Denver Green Code are some of the best tools to drive buildings to reduce emissions.  

The graph above shows how much carbon is emitted per square foot of building area in commercial buildings. The downward trending dotted line represents the path Denver needs to stick to, to reach our Zero Emissions goals. The blue dot labeled as “DEC-2022 (Current Status)” represents the impact we expect to see from the 2022 Denver Energy Code. The green dot labeled as “DGC-2022 (Current Status)” represents the stringency from the 2022 Denver Green Code. The 2022 Denver Energy Code dot is close to the dotted line, which means we have kept on track to reach our goals. Denver has made significant progress since the 2019 Denver Energy Code (represented by the blue DEC-2019 dot).  

Technical advisory code committees made several recommendations for commercial buildings during the 2022 Building and Fire Code and Denver Green Code Adoption Process. The committees included a wide range of community experts and stakeholders. Denver City Council heard and approved of these recommendations in January 2023. 

Six of these commercial energy amendments are considered “high climate impact.” They account for approximately 90% of the potential carbon emissions reductions. Two of these amendments require new commercial buildings to use efficient electric space and water heating systems. The other four amendments calibrate energy modeling and the prescriptive energy path to Denver’s climate goals.   

How Will We Get to Zero Emissions Buildings?

We will achieve this goal by ensuring all new buildings in Denver are:

• High efficiency
• All-electric
• Grid resilient and responsive
• Powered by systemwide renewable energy
• Less carbon intensive in their building materials
• Climate resilient and sustainable

What do those mean and how do we go forward to achieve these principles?

High efficiency 

• Strengthen building codes: Implement stricter performance energy efficiency standards through updates to the 2022 Denver Energy Code. The Net Zero Energy (NZE) Plan sets performance targets by building type for each code cycle leading up to the 2030 performance verification deadline; most targets increase in stringency as the years progress. These performance targets are outlined on pages 19-20 of the NZE Plan(PDF, 4MB). 

All-electric

• Promote all-electric systems: Denver will continue to require all-electric space and water heating equipment for commercial and multifamily buildings and will work to expand these provisions to all residential buildings. Denver will also explore other strategies to directly address the emissions and air quality impacts of combustion equipment.

Grid resiliency and responsiveness 

• Advocate for grid resiliency: Update the NZE Plan’s fourth criteria for NZE from “providers of demand flexibility” to more specifically address “grid resiliency.” Per the NZE plan, criteria for demand flexibility covers energy storage, grid integration, and flexibility to respond to grid signals.  
• Further define load management and demand response in the code: Define an appropriate percentage of electric equipment to be load flexible. The 2022 Denver Energy Code requires demand responsive storage water heaters and gives additional efficiency credits for thermostats. We will continue to require additional demand-responsive controls for equipment in code as the technology becomes market-ready.
• Introduce strategy to limit electric peak demand: Focus on limiting electric peak demand for heating and cooling at Denver’s hottest and coldest conditions. In its current form, the NZE Plan’s fourth pillar calls for flexibility for electricity consumption and energy storage. However, it does not state the need to secure the grid’s capacity to continue delivery as well as maintain efficiency during Denver’s most extreme weather scenarios.

Powered by Systemwide Renewables 

• Advocate at grid scale: Xcel Energy provides all the electricity that Denver purchases. Xcel Energy is on track to reduce carbon emissions from its electrical grid by 85% by 2030 by producing electricity with renewables, such as solar and wind. Through Senate Bill 19-236, the Colorado Legislature has required electric utilities to decarbonize the electric grid by 80% by 2030. Xcel Energy has voluntarily exceeded that target and filed a plan that achieves at least an 85% emissions reduction by 2030. 
• At the building level, the building code can incentivize buildings that meet the first three pillars above, ensuring that code allows for the utilization of on- and off-site renewable energy while the grid continues to decarbonize. This will act in tandem with Xcel Energy’s ongoing initiative to clean the grid. Additionally, Denver may give credit to buildings that install on-site renewables. 

Reduced Embodied Carbon Emissions New Commercial Buildings  

• Denver will develop high impact strategies and policies for targeting embodied carbon emissions. The proposed strategies will focus on the building commercial sector that produces most of Denver’s embodied carbon emissions. Strategies will be developed to successfully address an embodied carbon goal to be defined in the 2024 Embodied Carbon Committee meetings. These strategies will consider procuring low embodied carbon building materials, reducing materials, optimizing design, promoting adaptive building reuse, and planning for the end of building life.  

Climate Resilient, Sustainable Buildings  

During the next building code cycle, the Resiliency and Adaptation Committee will develop a robust, visionary, framework for adding climate resiliency and adaptation into the fabric of existing and to-be-developed codes and regulations.  The committee’s work will replace a portion of the complex, limited impact, limited use, Denver Green Code with a small number of high impact code amendments that fit well in other regulations.   

Updates to other codes or rules and regulations regarding landscape will also follow to replace elements of the Denver Green Code with regulations that are a more appropriate home for these provisions than the building code. 

Topics that may be elevated and integrated into the existing Denver codes or regulations with help from the Resiliency and Adaptation Committee include:   

• Indoor air quality through strategies such as ventilation, filtration and contaminant control. 
• Reduced indoor water use through low flow fixtures and appliances. 
• Reduced heat vulnerability through building strategies such as cool roofs or walls.
• Natural systems through strategies such as bird-friendly materials and glazing, light pollution reduction or lighting controls. 

Get Your Questions Answered

Community Planning and Development is your go-to source for any questions related to the building code. Speak with code experts who can walk you through specific code requirements, discuss plan review, permitting, and any other code questions.

Contact Community Planning and Development

Denver's Office of Climate Action, Sustainability and Resiliency should be your go-to for questions about these resources, incentive or financing programs, or this website. We can get you connected to a program manager to walk you through program applications and answer your questions.

Contact Denver Climate Action