At the time a building permit application is submitted to the enforcement agency, the applicant also submits plans and energy compliance documentation. This section describes the documents and procedures for documenting compliance with the performance requirements. The Nonresidential ACM has specific and detailed output/reporting requirements for all approved compliance software.
Compliance software output is required to specify the run initiation time, a unique run code, and the total number of pages of documents printed for each proposed building run on each page whenever a building complies with the Energy Standards. The plan checker is strongly encouraged to verify these output features for a performance compliance submittal to ensure that the submittal is a consistent set of compliance documentation. The Nonresidential ACM Reference Manual forbids compliance software from printing valid compliance documents for a proposed building design that does not comply. The plan checker should pay special attention to the PRF-01 document and the Exceptional Conditions List on that document. Every item on the Exceptional Conditions List deserves special attention and may require additional documentation, such as manufacturer's cut sheets or special features on the plans and in the building specifications.
The compliance software requirements will automatically produce and reiterate the proper set of documents that correspond to the particular proposed building submitted for a permit. However, the plan checker should verify the type of compliance and the required documents. Whenever an existing building or existing building components are involved in the compliance calculation, the plan checker should look for the term EXISTING that identifies EXISTING building components that remain unchanged. Similarly if the compliance document indicates a component is ALTERED these changes should be verified. In the types of permit applications where some building components are unknown, the unknown components cannot be entered by the user and cannot be reported on output documents. The PRF-01 document will show all the pertinent information required for a complete submittal.
The compliance documents associated with the performance approach are generated automatically and the entire printout is called the PRF-01.
Unless minimal efficiency and default capacities are used in the performance analysis, design drawings or specifications must be provided to document the differences in the capacities and efficiencies of the proposed equipment.
Other documentation supporting each non-standard or non-default value used in the performance approach and indicated in the Exceptional Conditions list on the PRF-01 document must also be included.
Performance approach inspection is identical to other inspections required by the Energy Standards. For information on inspection of envelope, mechanical and lighting systems, refer to Chapter 2, Compliance and Enforcement.