Commercial and high-rise residential and federal buildings must now meet requirements in ASHRAE/IESNA’s 2007 energy efficiency standard, under recent rulings issued by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) that finds the standard saves more energy than the 2004 version.
ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings , has been established by the DOE as the commercial building reference standard for state building energy codes under the federal Energy Conservation and Production Act.
States are required to certify by July 20, 2013, that they have reviewed and updated the provisions of their commercial building code regarding energy efficiency, including a demonstration that the provisions of their commercial building codes regarding energy efficiency meet or exceed 90.1-2007.
The DOE found that the newer version of the standard contained 11 positive impacts on energy efficiency. These impacts included changes made through the public review process in which users of the standard comment and offer guidance on proposed requirements. Some of the key positive impacts are as follows:
Increased requirements for building vestibules
Removal of data processing centers and hotel rooms from exceptions to HVAC
Modification of requirements regarding demand controlled ventilation, fan power limitations, retail display lighting requirements, cooling tower testing requirements, commercial boiler requirements, part load fan requirements, opaque envelope requirements and fenestration envelope requirements
“The DOE has determined that the quantitative analysis of the energy consumption of buildings built to Standard 90.1-2007, as compared to buildings built to Standard 90.1-2004, indicates national source energy savings of approximately 3.9 percent of commercial building consumption,” according to the DOE. “Additionally, DOE has determined site energy savings are estimated to be approximately 4.6 percent.”
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