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ASHRAE Outlines Energy Conservation Goals

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has a vision for its energy conservation standard.

ASHRAE sees a standard that is simplified. A standard with more stringent energy requirements. And creation of a separate standard that focuses on small buildings.

The Society seeks to achieve all three when ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, is revised and published in 2004. The standard is published on a three-year cycle to coincide with the deadlines for adoption by major building code organizations.

"We must make it as easy as possible for designers and contractors to conserve energy," Lawrence Speilvogel, chair of the Standard 90.1 committee, said. "Our focus as we work toward the 2004 standard is to simplify the requirements and achieve greater energy cost savings."

"Our customers are telling us to simplify the standard," Spielvogel said. "If the standard is simpler, it will be used more. If it is used more, more energy will be saved. The fastest, best route to increased energy savings is to simplify the standard."

Committee members plan to meet with members of local chapters of ASHRAE, the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) to get ideas and recommendations from people who have used the 1999 standard.

"The existing material in the standard will be reorganized to make the content more relevant and user friendly," he said. "Requirements applicable to all or most buildings will come first, followed by less frequently used requirements."

The committee also is considering reducing the number of tables in the standard and publishing the weather data in another document.

"The best way to simplify the standard for small and simple commercial buildings is to remove the complexity that is needed to address large and complex buildings," Spielvogel said. "Our customers for most small buildings are not architects and engineers. They are overwhelmed by the standard the way it appears today."

Spielvogel said the creation of a separate new standard, limited to small commercial buildings up to a certain size, will be proposed. The intent is to cover the majority of buildings being built, without the complications, options and criteria necessary to cover all buildings. Residential and semi-heated buildings will not be included.

"For example, about half of all buildings (and about 10 percent of the square footage) covered by the standard are 5,000 square feet or smaller," he said. "More than 90 percent of all buildings (and about 50 percent of the square footage) covered by the standard are 25,000 square feet or smaller. Most of these buildings use packaged HVAC and hot water systems. Complex HVAC systems and controls and automatic controls for lighting are rarely used or required. Trade-offs are rarely done. Buildings that do not meet these criteria will comply with 90.1."

The requirements in the proposed new small buildings standard will be taken from the complete standard. But the new standard would be only a fraction of the size and complexity, he said.

"The stringency of requirements in the standard will be increased to achieve up to a 20 percent reduction in energy consumption over Standard 90.1-1999," he said. "Previously considered requirements will be reexamined in light of current technology and economics."

Committee members will work with industry trade associations and product manufacturers to determine what minimum efficiency levels would be appropriate in the future.

Other goals include eliminating the perception of complexity, reducing the size, making it easier to use and see it being used on a voluntary basis, Spielvogel said.

The committee encourages submission of public continuous maintenance proposals geared toward the three major goals of simplification, small buildings and stringency.

"To publish a new American National Standards Institute approved standard in 2004 requires that virtually all new and revised content be approved by the committee for public review at the 2002 Annual Meeting, June 22-26, in Honolulu, Hawaii," he said.

Since being developed in response to the energy crisis in the 1970s, Standard 90.1 now influences building designs worldwide. It has become the basis for building codes, and the standard for building design and construction throughout the United States.

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