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Review Under Way for ASHRAE 90.1 Changes

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

ASHRAE announced the launch of public review of proposed changes to the purpose and scope of ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 sets minimum requirements for the energy-efficient design of buildings except low-rise residential buildings.

Among the proposed addenda to the standard issued for public review is addendum aq, which proposes changes to the purpose and scope of the standard. The proposed modification addresses applications not covered in the existing standard scope, such as requirements for laboratories, data-center cooling, and kitchen exhausts. It would also permit the 90.1 committee to address technologies, such as computer equipment and refrigerated casework, and would extend existing requirements for envelope, space cooling, and lighting to a larger group of spaces where energy is consumed.

Proposed addendum aq is open for public review until Feb. 2.

“ASHRAE is committed to substantially reducing energy use in buildings,” said Mark Hydeman, vice chairman of the committee. “This addendum is a critical step toward achieving that goal. For example, it requires all cooling and heating equipment that operates under standard conditions to comply with the existing minimum efficiencies of the standard regardless of the facility that they are in. Manufacturing and process environments often operate at much longer hours than office buildings and retail facilities, which served as the basis for the lifecycle cost analysis of the minimum efficiencies.”

Standard 90.1 currently addresses design and construction of buildings. The proposed addendum would add operation and maintenance, which allows incorporation of industry standards such as ASHRAE/ACCA Standard 180-2008, Standard Practice for Inspection and Maintenance of Commercial Building HVAC Systems. The addendum also incorporates utilization of on-site, renewable energy resources.

“By including on-site and renewable-energy resources in the scope, an appropriate mechanism was created for future requirements as well as credits for these energy resources not currently provided in the standard,” Hydeman said.

Four other proposed addenda—ar, as, au and av—are open for review until Jan. 19, while a fifth addenda, at, is open until Jan. 4. The addenda are related to lighting and lighting efficiencies.

The proposed addenda to ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1 are available during their public review period. Those interested in reading or commenting on the addenda can visit the website located at www.ashrae.org/publicreviews.

Another proposed addendum to Standard 90.1 spells out new requirements for cool-roof materials on nonresidential low-slope roofs in most U.S. climate zones. Additional provisions related to air-barrier requirements have been proposed, but have been delayed due to industry challenges.