The size of ASHRAE Standard 90.1 (2019), “Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings,” has grown exponentially to a current length of 422 pages as shown in Figure 1. The amount of time required by design engineers to ensure compliance has also increased exponentially. The staffs of authorities having jurisdiction must expand or disregard a sizeable portion of building codes based on the document. The expansion is based on the logic that a complex document with more explicit dictates reduces energy consumption. If the recent past is an indicator, this does not appear to be true. 

The Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) tracks the energy use of buildings according to the period in which the facilities are completed. There was a modest growth in energy use for buildings erected between 1980 and 2007 when the 90.1 standard in effect (1975-2004) was less than 180 pages. Although total energy use in commercial buildings declined by 12.4% between the 2003 and 2012 CBECS, buildings constructed in the 2008-2012 period used more energy than those completed in the previous 27 years (Energy Information Administration [EIA], 2016).