Codes + Standards

The ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.1 Lighting Subcommittee has revised the structure for determining recommended lighting power density levels, for the first time aligning with the IES Handbook and Recommended Practices.

My contribution to the Lighting Controls Association website in July covered major control changes in the 2018 version of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), which was published in 2017.

In February, the Department of Energy determined that ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2016 would increase energy savings, making it the new national energy reference standard. States have until February 2020 to adopt a commercial building energy code at least as stringent as 90.1-2016, or justify why they can’t comply.

The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) recently unveiled the WELL v2 pilot, the next version of its WELL Building Standard, the first building rating system to focus exclusively on the impacts of buildings on human health and wellness.

Writing for LD+A, Jim Benya argues that lighting energy codes have reached a mission accomplished stage in terms of energy conservation. Energy codes, he says, did what they intended to do, stating that by 2013, LPD had dropped 80% compared to 1973, while operating hours were reduced by two-thirds. Moving forward, lighting energy codes should focus on increasing compliance.

Lighting plays a crucial role at the Washington, DC HQ of the ASID, the first project certified Platinum by both LEED and WELL.

Lois Hutchinson’s “Lighting Codes and Standards in the Age of LED” presents a virtual panel of experts to talk about the future of energy codes in the LED and digital lighting era.

The New Buildings Institute (NBI) recently released a model stretch building code that targets 20% better efficiency than current national building energy codes.

A unified green building code that could become the foundation for LEED certification was created in 2011, thanks to a partnership among ASHRAE, the International Code Council (ICC), the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). That effort got a boost in August 2014, when ICC and ASHRAE agreed to align the technical requirements of ASHRAE’s Standard 189.1 for High Performance Green Buildings (189.1) with ICC’s International Green Construction Code (IgCC) into one single model code.