Section 404.1 Lighting Equipment (ICC Energy Code)

[bphgravity]

From the 2009 ICC - Energy Conservation Code:

404.1 Lighting equipment. A minimum of 50 percent of the lamps in permanently installed lighting fixtures shall be high-efficacy lamps.

I have a couple of problems with this section.

1. The National Electrical Code does not use the terms "lighting fixtures" any longer. Luminaires are installed not lighting fixtures.

2. Unless the installer leaves the lamp packaging on the job-site, there is no practical method for determining lamp efficacy. The lumens per watt of a lamp are typically not marked on the lamp itself.

3. Once the final inspection has been approved and a CO has been issued, the homeowner / tenant are no longer held to this standard / requirement.

So, what is the real practicality and point to this requirement???

 

[ron]

I would also think you need to know about the relationship for the lamp with the installed ballast and the luminaire.

Efficacy is the efficiency of the lamp to send light out and it would be effected by the other items too.

The efficacy of fluorescent tubes range from about 16 lumens per watt for a 4 watt tube with an ordinary ballast to over 100 lumens per watt with a modern electronic ballast, commonly averaging 50 to 67 lm/W overall.

 

[dkidd]

There is a page explaining the requirement at:

http://resourcecenter.pnl.gov/cocoon/morf/ResourceCenter/article//1695