Source: Katie Zemtseff, Daily Journal of Commerce, 2011. The City of Seattle is in the process of developing one of the first performance-based energy codes in the country. The code is being developed by Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development, the New Buildings Institute, and the Seattle-based Preservation Green Lab, an arm of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Their work is being watched nationally. Performance-based codes could make it easier for owners to rehab older, historic buildings rather than demolish them. When Vulcan Real Estate improved the Terry Avenue Building in South Lake Union, Ric Cochrane said Vulcan spent about 20 percent more than it planned complying with Seattle’s energy code.