Energy Code - Lighting

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

starbright28

Senior Member
Location
Minnesota
Hello All~

I'm wondering if anyone has done much in depth looking into the latest Energy Code and how it affects lighting.

In MN they will be eventually adopting Energy Code 90.1. Calculations are based on Chapter 9 of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1 - 2004 Energy Standards for Buildings except low rise residential Buildings.

Are many aware of this in doing calcualtions, installing in the field, etc? Is it being enforced, or not enforced? Is it more for the Engineer to worry about? What about the times of no engineer?

I'm still trying to understand using the new allowance chart for lighting, and you can trade VA amounts with mechanical equipment.

Anyone have any comments in regards to this? and insight and explanations?
 
Lighting Energy Codes

Lighting Energy Codes

We submit Energy Code Compliance Certificates all the time. Almost every state requires them. ComCheck (a free download from DOE) works for most states. Some (CA, OR, WA, FL) have their own specific required formats.

Gonna see more and more Energy Police...
 
I don't know if it is the easiest way, but most common is if you are the designer to model the job in Visual or some other lighting design software and it will spit out the power density just as easy as the foot-candle level.

With LEED and 90.1 it is almost necessary to model the job. I've had to start doing this for jobs in Ohio. Indiana though is still far behind the times and does not adopt 90.1 - yet - nor have they had many LEED certified projects - yet. It is coming though.
 
The 2004 version does get challenging with the lighting limits. We're still on the 1999 version here. Enforcement varies on region and inspector. Some inspectors don't realized that they're the Energy Code enforcer. It's becoming more and more common for either city plan review or local inspector to request documentation. It's easier to just design every project to Code compliance.

You cannot trade lighting energy for mechanical energy. You can trade the lighting energy from one room to another room.

Tips:

Occupancy sensors are not required for buildings less then 5,000 sf. 9.4.1.1

The Space-by-Space method usually get a higher wattage allowance. When you're measuring the square footage of each room, measure from the centerline of the walls. This way the building has the same total square footage if you measure with the Whole Building or Space-by-Space methods.
9.1.6(b): "For each space enclosed by partitions 80% or greater than ceiling height, determine the gross interior floor area by measuring to the center of the partition wall."

Wattage has to be based on the lamp/ballast combination. Not the lamp only. A 70W MH lamp is about 90W with the ballast. More people are going to need to start submitting lamp and ballast catalog sheets in order to document proper wattage.

The most annoying part of 90.1 is the space control. 9.4.1.2(b). Rooms less then 10,000 sf require independant switching for areas a max of 2,500 sf. Areas over 10,000 sf require independant swithcing for areas a max of 10,000 sf. Imagine how this applies to gyms and pools. Each switch will control a half or quarter of the space.
 
Mr. Bill said:
.......

The most annoying part of 90.1 is the space control. 9.4.1.2(b). Rooms less then 10,000 sf require independant switching for areas a max of 2,500 sf. Areas over 10,000 sf require independant swithcing for areas a max of 10,000 sf. Imagine how this applies to gyms and pools. Each switch will control a half or quarter of the space.
Click to expand...

I am just about done with a project in Ohio that is basically a GYM and a POOL.....you are correct for sure.

I could very simply do this with a couple of contactors but NOOOOO, those spaces are larger than 2,500 SF. I am using BMS controlled relays and several manual momentary "overide" switches" to meet the requirement.

The watts/SF requirements for the various occupancy types have very nearly changed my philosophy from designing for the appropriate light level for a particular space to designing for a low enough power density. I know for sure my light levels are way down today from when I started lighting design in 1994.......
 
I was just starting to understand our old version for lighing design and energy requirments. now this new 90.1 throws new curveballs, and i find that it is hard to get a "passing" mark with the number of lumiaires and there VA.

I have a chart that the engineer in the office put together for 32 watt t8 lamps, and one for 17 watt lamps. i asked him how he came up with the numbers and i got a skirted answer. i still don't understand how he got the answers yet.

i'll be getting training on visual to understand that program more, and the whole lighting levels and all that stuff. i guess i am constantly learning, and all this LEED stuff.

I actually thought you could do trade off's or get extra allowances from the mechanical equipment... at least that is what i was told and have read in the manual that you could. so that's news to me.

any comments, advice, tips, etc. is welcome!
 
We generally use ComCheck, and we use the default values for fixture VA that are built-in to ComCheck most of the time. To look up "real" values we generally look at the actual fixture's photometric file in Visual Professional. From what I've seen the defaults in ComCheck tend to be a bit lower than the "real fixture" values. Unless you have "no substitutions" on the fixtures it makes more sense to use defaults anyway.

We used to do trade-offs electrical/mechanical on California projects under their Title 24, but it's not part of the IECC, which is what we design to most of the time now. I haven't done much in California in the last few years, so things may have changed there.

Martin
 
I wish I had a little more time today to respond to this - but I need to dig into what we are starting to learn/do because it isn't adopted by the state of MN yet.

So far we are designing to a point under the new energy code for projects, although most of them are in MN so far. We do drawings for other states as well.

I personally don't have Com Check on my computer - is it free and available for download? plus I would need training on that too! :)

The engineer here uses EDR - Electrical Designer's Reference based on the NEC 2005 for items.

I'll be learning about lighting levels, photometrics, etc today with my training, and hopefully can take all that and go to town. I believe that will aid me in my design more for the energy in regards to lighting.

it is interesting on how LEED - energy efficiency in today's world is being evolved.

My question to the rest of you: for those jobs that doesn't have engineered drawings to go off of (like a simple office building), will the electrician understand these energy requirements? I know in Western MN, there is no enforcement (that I know of) for energy efficiency, and that designing lighting in regards to the VA allowance, etc is something that I know they don't know about. How is the word going to get out about this? (I'm from Western MN, and my dad still owns his business out there - that is why I ask).

Thanks!
 
I'm not sure there is an answer to your last question. Some will and some won't.

Before Visual and other modeling programs we used formulas based on the Room Cavity Method or Zonal Cavity Method to calculate foot candle levels in the room. That has been so many years ago that I don't even remember the formulas now.

I usually use round numbers for circuiting that are slightly higher than the actual load. That saves time and keeps my circuits a little more lightly loaded so adding fixtures to the circuit later if need be is no big deal.

For 90.1 and LEED I use the power density calcs from Visual. You usually need all the help you can get there to meet the 90.1 requirements.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top