Energy budgets are adopted by the Commission to establish the maximum energy consumption that a proposed building, or portion of a building, can be designed to consume. A building complies with the performance standards compliance approach if the energy consumption calculated for the proposed design building is no greater than the energy budget calculated for the standard design building using Commission-certified compliance software as specified by the Alternative Calculation Methods Reference Manual. The energy budget for newly constructed single-family, multifamily, and nonresidential buildings are expressed in terms of Long-Term System Cost (LSC) and Source Energy. The Energy Budget for additions and alterations for all building types are expressed in terms of LSC.

Long-term System Cost (LSC) is calculated by multiplying for each hour of the year the site energy use (electricity kWh, natural gas therms, or fuel oil or LPG gallons) for each energy type by the applicable CEC-published LSC hourly factors. LSC hourly factors vary for each hour of the year and by energy type (electricity, natural gas, or propane), by Climate Zone and by building type (residential, nonresidential). LSC hourly factors are summarized in Reference Joint Appendix JA3. LSC hourly factors for propane are used for all energy obtained from depletable sources other than electricity and natural gas.

Source Energy is calculated by multiplying for each hour of the year the site energy use (electricity kWh, natural gas therms, or fuel oil or LPG gallons) by Btu factors for fossil fuel consumed either directly at the building site or caused to be consumed to meet the electrical demand of the building considering the long-term marginal hourly resources of Commission- projected electric system resource procurement.

Note: Authority: Sections 25213, 25218, 25218.5, 25402 and 25402.1, Public Resources Code. Reference: Sections 25007, 25008, 25218.5, 25310, 25402, 25402.1, 25402.4, 25402.5, 25402.8, and 25943, Public Resources Code.