An analysis used during recent revisions to 90.2 suggests that the standard is more energy efficient than the existing provisions by an average of 6.6 percent in terms of national heating and cooling energy costs, said Hunn.

ASHRAE also has proposed that Standard 90.2 be included in the International Residential Code, also published by ICC. ASHRAE wants the requirements of 90.2 included as an alternate compliance path to comply with the code.

Hunn noted that the standard recently was updated and now includes only the essential prescriptive information necessary to design and enforce energy conservation requirements.

Other changes include removal of complex equations for determining compliance with the envelope provisions; reduction in the number of tables and figures for compliance; removal of outdated information and HVAC tables already covered by federal regulations; and the standard is now written in mandatory enforceable language.

The proposed changes are scheduled to be evaluated in spring 2005 for possible inclusion in the 2006 code. ASHRAE's proposals can be found at www.ashrae.org under the Technology & Standards link in the Standards Activities section labeled "Code Interaction."

Publication date: 10/18/2004