A Closer Look at the 2022 Building Energy Efficiency Standards
This is the second of a two-part series on the new 2022 Building Energy Efficiency Standards adopted by the Energy Commission on August 11, 2021.
Last month, we looked at the major focuses of the new statewide Building Energy Standards. This month, we will explore more specific provisions the new Standards have incorporated to achieve the overarching state goals.
Multi-family Provisions
The requirements for dwelling units and common areas in multifamily buildings of all sizes were consolidated into three new chapters (mandatory, prescriptive, and additions and alterations requirements). These establish unified requirements for roofs, walls, and windows across all multifamily buildings, dependent on assembly type and fire rating. New multifamily measures include prescriptive heat or energy recovery on balanced ventilation systems in Climate Zones 1, 2 and 11 through 16, mandatory central ventilation shaft sealing and testing, mandatory kitchen ventilation capture efficiency, mandatory increased pipe insulation for domestic hot water systems, a compliance pathway for central heat pump water heating, and prescriptive heat pump requirements for all multifamily HVAC systems serving individual dwelling units.
Single-Family Provisions
For single family new construction, the prescriptive baseline was revised to include either a space heating heat pump or heat pump water heater (HPWH) and expanded electric-ready measures. Another change was to add a mandatory roof deck insulation requirement for Climate Zones 4 and 8 through 16. New provisions in the requirements for single family additions and alterations include the expansion of cool roof requirements to additional climate zones, added roof insulation requirements for low-slope roofs at reroof, reduced duct leakage target for existing ducts from 15% to 10%, and attic insulation and air sealing requirements for altered ceilings in vented attics.
Nonresidential Building Provisions
New and revised provisions for these buildings include:
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Envelope: high performance windows, cool roofs in steep-sloped buildings, air leakage and leakage testing, and insulation for roof recovers and roof recovers.
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Lighting: refinements to indoor lighting power density requirements, updates to daylighting control requirements (requiring dimming to 10% full lighting power instead of 35%), update outdoor lighting zones (rural areas reclassified as lighting zone 1), and reduce outdoor lighting power allowances to match the updated Illuminating Engineering Society recommended illuminance levels for parking lots.
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HVAC & Water Heating: add prescriptive requirements for dedicated outdoor air systems when used as the primary source of ventilation, add a prescriptive requirement that high capacity space heating gas boiler systems and service water heating systems achieve 90% thermal efficiency, add a prescriptive requirement for exhaust air heat recovery systems in certain building types and climate zones, expand prescriptive economizer requirements, and simplify minimum airflow requirements for variable air volume; add prescriptive requirements for heat pump space heating for certain building types
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Solar photovoltaic and battery storage systems required for certain building/space types.
Note that the building owner may choose the performance compliance pathway that allows them not to use certain prescriptive requirements such as heat pump systems, but the project must install additional efficiency measures to overcome the resulting compliance penalty.
In addition to these changes, the Commission focused on achieving savings from commercial process-specific energy use that accounts for significant statewide energy consumption and GHG emissions. These include data centers, commercial kitchens, commercial refrigeration, or other similar tasks.
Significant provisions include:
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Controlled environment horticulture (CEH): Added new horticultural lighting minimum efficacy requirements for indoor growing spaces and greenhouses, minimum efficacy requirements for dehumidification systems in indoor grow facilities, and specified greenhouse envelope requirements.
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Steam trap fault detection diagnostics: steam traps in new facilities must have fault detection to assist facility managers in identifying and replacing failed traps.
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Compressed Air: expand existing requirements for compressed air systems to include requirements for pipe sizing, leak testing, and leak monitoring.
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Refrigeration systems: expand existing requirements to include minimum design and control requirements for carbon dioxide (CO2) transcritical refrigeration systems for both refrigerated warehouses and commercial refrigeration systems. Automatic door closers will also be required for refrigerated spaces over 3,000 square feet.
Our sister program, Energy Code Ace, is developing new training programs and resources focusing on the changes and compliance requirements of the 2022 Standards. Find out more here.
