Codes + Standards

The New Buildings Institute (NBI) recently released new code language that serves as a building decarbonization overlay to the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). The Building Decarbonization Code is a tool aiming to deliver carbon neutral performance. It also offers market insight into rules that will determine how new buildings are designed and constructed in the future in order to curb the worst impacts of climate change.

The International Code Council recently launched online tools showing building code adoption in the United States and globally.

Estimated to be 10% more energy-efficient than the 2018 version, 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) is now available for purchase.

Due to continuing disruption to operations for both DesignLights Consortium (DLC) members and stakeholders as a result of COVID-19, the DLC is extending the deadline to update and the delisting date for products qualified under SSL V4.4 by two months.

In February 2020, the Design Lights Consortium finalized the technical specifications for the next generation of LED products. These new requirements, versions 5.0 and 5.1, are designed to help usher in new levels of energy efficiency, light quality, and controllability. The DLC started certifying products under the new v5 spec earlier this year, and they will remove older products that don’t meet this certification on December 31, 2020. This change can have a significant impact on the potential rebates a project may receive.

The International WELL Building Institute recently announced the official launch of Version 2 of the WELL Building Standard, following a two-year vetting process.

The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) has released the final version of its Technical Requirements for LED-based Horticultural Lighting: Version 2.0, an update that will continue the industry transition from traditional lighting data and metrics to horticultural-specific lighting data and metrics that best represent horticultural lighting performance. The changes have an effective date of March 31, 2021.

My contribution to the July 2020 issue of ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR analyzes the major lighting requirements and what’s new in the 2019 version of the ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.1 energy standard.

American National Standard for Electric Lamps—LED Lamp Specification Sheets for HID Replacement and Retrofit Applications offers LED Lamp specification sheets for HID replacement and retrofit applications as the means of communication of critical lamp characteristics.