
#Ashrae 90.1 2016 appendix g code
The two documents are intended to work together because many project teams are faced with the task of complying with a locally adopted IECC energy code and working within a Standard 90.1-based green building rating system. In structure and content IECC relies heavily on Standard 90.1’s consensus review system of public commentary and involvement of expert, volunteer input. IECC is released on staggered three-year code cycles, where IECC lags Standard 90.1 by two years. IECC has many parallels to Standard 90.1 including prescriptive and performance compliance paths.

The overlap is due to many states adopting both and allowing design teams to choose between the two or adopting one for public buildings and another for government or state-owned buildings. To date, 38 states have adopted a version of Standard 90.1 and 32 states have adopted some version of the International Code Council’s International Energy Conservation Code. A review of state energy code policy shows that adoption is as varied from state to state as any other policy issues.

In the United States, the decision of which energy code to adopt is made by state rather than federal policy. Green Building Council LEED rating system to quantify the amount a given design could outperform the code minimum. Standard 90.1 also contains Appendix G, energy modeling guidelines on documenting beyond code energy savings, that provides a tool for sustainability rating systems such as U.S. Performance-based compliance (aka the “energy cost budget method”) involves creating a computer simulation of the designed building and comparing it to a baseline model created as per the rules set forth in the standard. Prescriptive compliance involves meeting checklist of mandatory provisions while ensuring building component efficiencies meet or exceed required values given in the standard. Standard 90.1 has two methods for showing compliance termed “prescriptive” and “performance” paths.
#Ashrae 90.1 2016 appendix g how to
When considering how to comply, the standard provides flexibility. The building blocks of the standard are mandatory provisions that all complying projects must design to, prescriptive component efficiency values and guidelines for energy modeling-based compliance. The latter category, called “unregulated loads” includes plug loads such as computers and printers, information technology equipment, cooking equipment, elevators, laboratory equipment and many others.

The standard regulates building thermal envelope, lighting systems, power systems and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, but does not regulate equipment and systems that are integral to the function of the building occupants. It is a document that demands careful study to effectively apply. Structurally, Standard 90.1 varies in length from 188 pages for ASHRAE 90.1-2007 to 388 pages for ASHRAE 90.1-2016. The cumulative and methodical progress of Standard 90.1 has taken building design out of the era when no code requirements were placed on energy usage, and important building characteristics such as the inclusion of wall insulation were left up to the individual motivations of the design and construction teams. ASHRAE 90.1-2019 is published as the most recent version, but has not been analyzed as part of the research mentioned or extensively adopted. Successive versions of Standard 90.1, up to ASRHAE 90.1-2016, have reduced the energy consumed by a typical building designed to the standard by over 50% according to research done by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. This split solidified Standard 90.1 as ASHRAE’s answer to how to regulate and evaluate energy efficiency in commercial buildings. Later, as part of the 1989 edition, ASHRAE 90 split into ASHRAE Standard 90.1: Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings and ASHRAE 90.2: Energy-Efficient Design of Low-Rise Residential Buildings. In 1975, ASHRAE 90-75: Energy Conservation in New Building Design was published as the first national energy code.
