ICC Energy Code Adopts ASHRAE Standard
Staff -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 1/1/2001
Increasing its prospects for adoption into local building codes, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers' (ASHRAE) energy-conservation standard has been accepted for inclusion in the 2001 version of the International Energy Conservation Code.
Standard 90.1-1999, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings- developed with the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America-replaces Standard 90.1-1989 with up-to-date efficiency requirements for the design of energy-efficient buildings.
"The inclusion of Standard 90.1-1999 by the International Code Council recognizes the incorporation of new technologies, increased energy savings and easier use over the 1989 standard," said ASHRAE President James E. Wolf. "The application of Standard 90.1 in local building codes will result in significant site and source energy savings."
An advocate of Standard 90.1-1999, the U.S. Department of Energy is also reviewing the standard to potentially replace Standard 90.1-1989 in its Energy Policy Act of 1992, which requires all federal and state nonresidential building codes to include minimum efficiency levels that meet or exceed those in the 1989 standard.
