ASHRAE Journal - February 2020 - 53

FEATURE

said Michael Rosenberg, Fellow ASHRAE, member of
SSPC 90.1.
After a positive determination, states have two years to
advise the DOE that their state's standard is equal to or
better than Standard 90.1.
Rosenberg said when a new version of the standard is
published, it de facto becomes the standard of care and
designing in accordance to the new version reduces the
risk to the engineering community, even if a jurisdiction
has not yet adopted the new version.
Standard 90.1 is the base standard for other ASHRAE
standards such as Standard 90.4, Energy Standard for Data
Centers, and Standard 189.1, Standard for the Design of HighPerformance Green Buildings, as Standard 90.1 is the minimum cost-effective requirement for building energy,
said Erbe.

Standard 90.4
Data Center Energy Standard without Impeding the Industry
Three years after ASHRAE's data centers energy
standard was initially published, the Standard 90.4
committee strengthened the standard's requirements,
without impeding on the data center industry, said
Richard Zbin, Life Member ASHRAE, HFDP, chair of
SSPC 90.4.
ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 90.4-2019 reduced the maximum mechanical load component (MLC) and electrical
loss component (ELC) for compliance in order to evolve
with the IT industry's constantly changing technologies. The 2019 version of the standard incorporates six
addenda from the 2016 edition, with some changes better aligning Standard 90.4 with Standard 90.1. The six
addenda address deﬁnitions, MLC values for all climate
zones, uninterruptible power supply technology and
more.
SSPC 90.4 paid attention to moving the standard
forward while not inhibiting designers' abilities to
use newer technologies to save more energy, Zbin
said. "The committee worked with both designers
and manufacturers to assure that the standard would
not inhibit the use of innovative designs to meet the
standard."
The 2019 version is the second version of the continuous maintenance standard. Still a new standard to the
industry, the SSPC has also been working to educate the
IT industry about the standard's beneﬁts. A few industry
groups have asked for presentations regarding Standard

90.4 to better understand the standard's purpose. These
presentations have been well-received, said Zbin.
He said the updated standard should have no
adverse effect on the industry. Washington state has
reviewed portions of the standard to use in a new
state-level data center energy efﬁciency code that
goes into effect July 1.
"Washington's requirements go beyond what Standard
90.4 has proposed for the 2019 edition. We have also
heard from a few industry leaders that they are using
Standard 90.4 in their company design standards for
new facilities," he said. "The industry and others are
starting to embrace this standard ...The (90.4) committee has also been notiﬁed that a few owners have
adopted this standard in their design requirements for
their corporate designs."
Standard 90.4 offers a framework for the energyefﬁcient design of data centers with special consideration to their unique load requirements compared to
other buildings. The standard was developed under the
guiding principle that data centers are mission-critical
facilities demanding careful attention to the potential
impact of its requirements. This year, ANSI/ASHRAE/IES
Standard 90.1 referenced Standard 90.4 as an alternative compliance path for large computer rooms such as
data centers.
"As Standard 90.1 has done for commercial buildings,
Standard 90.4 is striving to become the standard for data
center efﬁciency that most of the code-writing bodies
will look to for guidance," said Zbin.
Because the standard is constantly evolving to meet
the ever-changing IT industry's requirements, the committee is looking for any input from the industry and
ASHRAE members about how the standard should move
forward, he said.

Standard 135
Strengthening Cybersecurity with Forthcoming BACnet Standard Update
One of ASHRAE's continuous maintenance standards
will be updated this year, but a major part of the revised
standard has caught the industry's attention.
ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135-2020, BACnet-A Data
Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control
Networks, is due to be published this summer and will
include BACnet Secure Connect (BACnet/SC).
BACnet/SC seeks to increase protection of building automation systems integrated into traditional
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