Newly Released ASHRAE 90.1-2013 Includes Changes

All lighting designers who practice in North America should be aware of the new, lower, lighting power density requirements.

The newly published energy standard from ASHRAE and IES contains significant changes to lighting requirements within its lighting, building envelope and energy cost budget sections. ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2013, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, incorporates 110 addenda that work toward the long-term goal of reducing building energy use and cost.

“Achieving the stringency goals established for the 2013 standard presented a challenge in reducing the requirements for lighting,” Rita Harrold, director of technology for the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America, says. “While interior lighting power densities (LPD) were re-evaluated and most lowered, there continues to be an ongoing concern about maintaining quality of lighting installations for occupant satisfaction and comfort while achieving energy savings. The focus in the 2013 standard, therefore, was not just on lowering LPDs but on finding ways to achieve savings by adding more controls and daylighting requirements as well as including lighting limits for exterior applications based on jurisdictional zoning.”

Building envelope standards now require double glazed fenestration in many climates, minimum visible transmittance/solar heat gain coefficient (VT/SHGC) and simplification of the skylighting criteria. Changes to lighting standards include improvements to daylighting and daylighting controls, space-by-space lighting power density limits, thresholds for toplighting and revised controls requirements and format. Energy cost budget and modeling sections have also been revised to enhance capturing daylighting when doing modeling calculations.

To purchase the ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2013, click here.

18 Oct