ASHRAE Journal - February 2020 - 52

FEATURE

committee did not complete proposed language changes
in time to be included in the 2019 edition. He said the
committee is working with the industry to include this
topic in future versions of the standard.
Other topics Walker said future versions of the standard could address include improving ventilation and
air-tightness requirements for multi-family buildings,
adding more compliance pathways for existing dwelling retrofits, improving requirements for kitchen range
hood performance and developing an indoor air quality calculation procedure similar to that in ASHRAE
Standard 62.1.
Walker said Standard 62.2 is becoming more sophisticated with its expanded scope to cover all dwelling units.
"The long-term plan is to move beyond ventilation air
flow requirements to include more source control and
air cleaning (e.g., particle filtration), account for external air contaminants and include indoor air quality controls that incorporate advances in lower-cost contaminant sensing," said Walker. "Finally, it is becoming clear
that the standard needs to say something about how
ventilation systems are used and installed, for example,
having more stringent requirements for location of and
labeling of controls."

Standard 90.1

Shifting the Focus to Systems, System Dynamics

The revision cycle that created ANSI/ASHRAE/IES
Standard 90.1-2019, Energy Efficiency Standard for Buildings
Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, showed the standard's
project committee cannot continue to focus on prescriptive measures to achieve meaningful energy savings,
said Drake Erbe, Member ASHRAE, chair of the Standard
90.1 committee.
"We must, will and are moving in the direction of systems and system dynamics to recognize the important
improvements that can be made in this area," he said.
To maintain the standard's future viability, the project
committee should, and is in the process of expanding
the scope to the site and recognizing and addressing all
the energy flows in and out of the building in the design
process, he said.
"That means that the standard will, and is in the
process of, recognizing the importance of renewable
energy to the building and its site and its contribution
to lowering the national energy demand in buildings,"
said Erbe, adding that in order to do so, the committee

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ASHRAE JOURNAL

ashrae.org

FEBRUARY 2020

commissions cross-functional working groups to independently provide proposals and to see them through to
their completion.
The 2019 update to ASHRAE's most prolific energy
standard includes 88 updates since the last edition was
published in 2016, including new and updated equipment efficiency requirement tables and clearer rules
in the performance compliance path for renewable
energy treatment and new compliance requirements
for commissioning.
With the goal of providing clearer guidance for
exceeding efficiency goals, the update focuses on
energy-saving measures the committee hopes will
reward designs for achieving energy-efficiency levels
above the standard minimum; thus, resulting in more
innovative solutions resulting in lower energy buildings, said Erbe.
Revisions address building envelope, lighting,
mechanical and two compliance paths: Energy Cost
Budget and Performance Rating Method.
Erbe said some of the biggest energy savers in the
updated standard are in the new lighting requirements:
* Modification of the lighting power allowances for
the Space-By-Space Method and the Building Area
Method to reflect the outcomes of the fully reconstructed
90.1 lighting model, which includes many updates and
improvements.
* Addition of a Simplified Method for Lighting (new
Section 9.2), which is intended to provide a simple
approach for contractors and designers who design
or renovate office buildings and retail buildings up to
25,000 ft2 (2 322.6 m2).
In the mechanical section, the 2019 version includes
a new requirement for condenser heat recovery for
acute care inpatient hospitals and new requirements
for reporting fan power for ceiling fans and updated
requirements for fan motor selections to increase
design options for load-matching variable-speed fan
applications.
For more than 45 years, Standard 90.1 has been a
benchmark for commercial building energy codes for
the United States and a key basis for codes and standards
around the world.
ASHRAE Standard 90.1 is recognized as the standard of
care in the industry, and the Department of Energy does
a determination of energy savings and an analysis of the
cost effectiveness of each new edition of the standard,
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ASHRAE Journal - February 2020

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