ATLANTA — The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has announced that changes to the purpose and scope of ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1 are being proposed through public review. ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, provides minimum requirements for the energy-efficient design of buildings except low-rise residential buildings.

Among the proposed addenda out for public review is addendum aq, which proposes changes to the purpose and scope of the standard. The proposed modification addresses applications not covered in the existing standard scope, such as requirements for laboratories, data center cooling, and kitchen exhausts. It would also permit the 90.1 committee to address technologies, such as computer equipment and refrigerated casework, and would extend existing requirements for envelope, space cooling, and lighting to a larger group of spaces where energy is consumed.

“ASHRAE is committed to substantially reducing energy use in buildings,” said Mark Hydeman, vice chair of the committee. “This addendum is a critical step toward achieving that goal. For example, it requires all cooling and heating equipment that operates under standard conditions to comply with the existing minimum efficiencies of the standard regardless of the facility that they are in. Manufacturing and process environments often operate at much longer hours than office buildings and retail facilities, which served as the basis for the life-cycle cost analysis of the minimum efficiencies.”

Standard 90.1 currently addresses design and construction of buildings. The proposed addendum would add operation and maintenance, which allows incorporation of industry standards such as ASHRAE/ACCA Standard 180-2008, Standard Practice for Inspection and Maintenance of Commercial Building HVAC Systems.

The addendum also incorporates utilization of on-site, renewable energy resources.

“By including on-site and renewable energy resources in the scope, an appropriate mechanism was created for future requirements as well as credits for these energy resources not currently provided in the standard,” Hydeman said.

Proposed addendum aq is open for public review until Feb. 2. To read this proposed addendum or to comment, visit www.ashrae.org/publicreviews.

Publication date: 01/12/2009