Non-residential Energy Code Overview

The 2025 standards continue the focus on advancing electrification, strongly encouraging heat pumps for more building types and applications and updating photovoltaic and battery energy storage system requirements. Updates include:

• Introducing prescriptive heat pump standards for select nonresidential building types (when replacing single-zone rooftop units less than 65,000 Btu/h)
• Prescriptively requiring multizone HVAC heat pumps in most climate zones for office and school building types
• Prescriptively requiring heat pump water heaters in schools greater than 25,000 ft2 for most climate zones (CZ 2-15)
• Replacing end-of-life rooftop heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) units of a certain size with heat pumps, for existing retail, schools, offices and libraries, or with an air conditioner with additional efficiency measures
• Establishing electric-ready requirements for commercial kitchens
• Updating solar and storage standards for assembly buildings, including religious worship, sport, and recreation buildings

Energy Code Ace is conducting training sessions on what’s new in the nonresidential 2025 Energy Code, with upcoming webinars on November 6, 2024, December 4, 2024, and January 15, 2025.

Single-Family and Multi-Family Energy Code Overview

The 2025 Standards focus on strengthening heat pump requirements for space and water heating with additional focus on envelope and pool heating. Single family new construction highlights include:

• Extending the prescriptive standard for heat pumps for space heating to all climate zones
• Requiring controls to improve performance of heat pumps, including defrost timers and limits on supplementary heat to 35°F and below
• Prescriptively requiring heat pump water heaters in all climate zones
• Adjusting requirements for high-performance windows and walls
• Establishing new mandatory options that encourage heat pumps for heating newly constructed swimming pools and newly installed pool heaters for existing pools

Multi-family new construction highlights include:

• Introducing a prescriptive requirement for sizing water pipes according to CPC Appendix M for central domestic hot water (DHW) systems
• Prescriptively requiring heat pump for water heating equipment serving individual dwelling units in all climate zones
• Mandating electric readiness for central gas water heating systems
• Strengthening envelope provisions including cool roof, wall and fenestration performance

Energy Code Ace is conducting training sessions on what’s new in single family and multi-family residential 2025 standards, with upcoming webinars on November 5, 2024 and December 3, 2024.

2025 CALGreen Updates

The CEC proposes and adopts language for the voluntary Energy Efficiency Tiers in Title 24, Part 11 (CALGreen A4.2 and A5.2). The CALGreen amendments, if adopted by a local jurisdiction, increase energy efficiency for residential and non-residential buildings beyond Energy Code requirements by introducing new standards for existing buildings and amending and expanding standards for newly constructed buildings. (Note that cost-effectiveness analysis may be required on some or all of these provisions if a local jurisdiction is evaluating adoption as a reach code.) Highlights include:

• Introducing a prescriptive requirement for either installing a heat pump when replacing an air conditioner in an existing single-family residence or installing an air conditioner with additional efficiency measures
• Strengthening requirements for pool/spa heating
• Requiring heat pump (gas back up allowed) or gas with 60% solar thermal/recovered energy fraction for nonresidential or multi-family pool/spa alterations
• Updating performance energy targets for single-family new construction
• Updating outdoor lighting standards for multi-family and non-residential, with new requirements for freestanding, pole- and arm-mounted luminaires

The Statewide Codes and Standards team, in collaboration with the California Building Standards Commission (CBSC), the California Division of the State Architect (DSA)and AIA California maintains a web site, CALGreenInfo.com that houses resources to help stakeholders comply with the code. Examples include AIA California’s new CALGreen Checklist and the CBSC’s video presentation on CALGreen Nonresidential requirements. Check back often, as the team continues to add resources to this online resource as they become available.

The CBSC is expected to adopt and finalize the 2025 California Building Code package mid-December.