Codes + Standards

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has adopted the 2022 Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Energy Code) for newly constructed and renovated buildings. If approved by the California Building Standards Commission in December, it will go into effect on January 1, 2023, providing a year to gear up for the changes.

After nine years developing its software protocol to enable interoperability of smart street lighting systems and other smart city applications from multiple vendors, the TALQ Consortium announced it is sharing with the smart city community the detail of the TALQ OpenAPI Specification in the public domain.

The third edition of UL 8802, Outline of Investigation for Germicidal Systems, introduces a new Part IV to the Standard. This section addresses retrofit kits that facilitate replacement of the light source of a General Lighting Service luminaire with a UV LED emitter assembly. For this product type, risk of UV overexposure is mitigated by the exclusive use of UV LED sources that are classified as “risk group exempt” in accordance with criteria in IEC 62471.

The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) recently released the final version of its updated Technical Requirements for Horticultural Lighting (Version 2.1). Scheduled to take effect September 1, the new policy establishes Qualified Products List (QPL) eligibility for three additional product types, and reflects changes made in response to stakeholder comments received this spring.

The consensus method ANSI/IES TM-30 has been used increasingly since its introduction in 2015, offering superior accuracy and expanded scope of included information compared to predecessor tools for assessing color rendition. A new tutorial article authored by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and published in LEUKOS consolidates a range of updated information to assist with best practices.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Cori Jackson, program director of the California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) and president of the California Energy Alliance, on the topic of outcome-based energy codes.

My most recent contribution to ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR breaks down the major lighting changes in the 2021 version of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC).

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published a Federal Register notice re-evaluating its prior determination that the Secretary of Energy was not required to implement the statutory backstop requirement for general service lamps (GSLs).

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently announced its preliminary determination of energy savings for the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), preliminarily affirming that the updated code will increase energy efficiency in residential buildings.