The following items shall be included in an application package submitted to the Energy Commission for software approval:
•Compliance Software Vendor Certification Statement. A copy of the statement contained in Appendix A, signed by the software vendor, certifying that the software meets all Energy Commission requirements, including accuracy and reliability when used to demonstrate compliance with the energy standards.
•Computer Runs. Copies of the computer runs specified in Chapter 3 of this manual on machine-readable form as specified in Chapter 3 to enable verification of the runs.
•Help System and/or User's Manual. The vendor shall submit a complete copy of the help system and/or software user's manual, including material on the use of the software for compliance.
•Copy of the Compliance Software and Weather Data. A machine-readable copy of the software for random verification of compliance analyses. The vendor shall provide weather data for all 16 climate zones.
•TDV Factor Documentation. The software shall be able to apply the TDV multipliers described in Reference Appendix JA3.
•Application Fee. The vendor shall provide an application fee of $1,000.00 as authorized by § 25402.1(b) of the Public Resources Code, payable to the "State of California" to cover costs of evaluating the application and to defray reproduction costs.
A cover letter acknowledging the shipment of the completed application package should be sent to:
Executive Director
California Energy Commission
1516 Ninth Street,
MS-39
Sacramento, CA 95814-5512
Two copies of the full application package should be sent to:
Compliance
Software Nonresidential Certification
California Energy
Commission
1516 Ninth Street, MS-26
Sacramento, CA 95814-5512
Following submittal of the application package, the Energy Commission may request additional information under Title 24, Part 1, § 10-110. This additional information is often necessary due to complexity of software. Failure to provide such information in a timely manner may be considered cause for rejection or disapproval of the application. A resubmittal of a rejected or disapproved application will be considered a new application, and must include a new application fee.
This manual addresses two types of software approval: full program approval (including amendments to programs that require approval) and approval of new program features and updates.
If software vendors make a change to their programs as described below, the change must be approved by the Energy Commission. Furthermore, any software change that affects the energy use calculations for compliance, the modeling capabilities for compliance, the format and/or content of compliance forms, or any other change that would affect compliance requires approval.
Changes that do not affect compliance, such as changes to the user interface, may follow a simplified or streamlined procedure for approval. To comply with this simpler process, the software vendor shall certify to the Energy Commission that the new program features do not affect the results of any calculations performed by the program; shall notify the Commission of all changes; and shall provide the Commission with one updated copy of the program and help system/user's manual. Examples of such changes include fixing logical errors in computer program code that do not affect the numerical results (bug fixes) and new interfaces.
1.7.2.1 Full Approval and Reapproval of Compliance Software
The Energy Commission requires program approval when candidate software has never been approved by the Commission, when the software vendor changes the program algorithms, or when any other change occurs that in any way affects the compliance results. The Commission may also require that all approved software be approved again whenever substantial revisions are made to the standards or to the Commission's approval process.
The Energy Commission may change the approval process and require that all software be approved again for several reasons, including:
•If the standards undergo a major revision that alters the basic compliance process, then software would have to be updated and reapproved for the new process.
•If new analytic capabilities come into widespread use, then the Energy Commission may declare them to be required software capabilities, and may require all software vendors to update their programs and submit them for reapproval.
When reapproval is necessary, the Energy Commission will notify all software vendors of the timetable for renewal, a new version of this manual will be published, and the Commission will provide instructions for reapproval.
Reapproval shall be accompanied by a cover letter explaining the type of amendment(s) requested and copies of other documents, as necessary. The timetable for reapproval of amendments is the same as for full program approval.
1.7.2.2 Approval of New Features and Updates
Certain types of changes may be made to previously approved nonresidential software through a streamlined procedure, including implementing a computer program on a new machine and changing executable program code that does not affect the results.
Modifications to previously approved software, including new features and program updates, are subject to the following procedure:
•The software vendor shall prepare an addendum to the compliance supplement or software user's manual when new features or updates affect the outcome or energy efficiency measure choices, describing the change to the software. If the change is a new modeling capability, the addendum shall include instructions for using the new modeling capability for compliance.
•The software vendor shall notify the Energy Commission by letter of the change that has been made to the software. The letter shall describe in detail the nature of the change and the reason it is being made. The notification letter shall be included in the revised compliance supplement or software user's manual.
•The software vendor shall provide the Energy Commission with an updated copy of the software and include any new forms created by the software (or modifications in the standard reports).
The Energy Commission will respond within 45 days. The Energy Commission may approve the change, request additional information, refuse to approve the change, or require that the software vendor make specific changes to either the compliance supplement addendum or the software program itself.
With Energy Commission approval, the vendor may issue new copies of the software with the compliance supplement addendum, and notify software users and building officials.
Building officials, program users, program vendors, Energy Commission staff, or other interested parties may challenge any nonresidential software approval. If any interested party believes that a compliance program, an algorithm or method of calculation used in a compliance program, a particular capability, or other aspect of a program provides inaccurate results or results that do not conform to the criteria described in his manual, the party may challenge the program.
The Energy Commission may decertify (rescind approval of) an alternative calculation method through the following means:
•All software programs are decertified when the Standards undergo substantial changes, which occur about every three years.
•Any software can be decertified by a letter from the software vendor requesting that a particular version (or versions) of the software be decertified. The decertification request shall briefly describe the nature of the program errors or "bugs" that justify the need for decertification.
•Any "initiating party" may begin decertifying any software according to the steps outlined below. The intent is to include a means whereby unfavorable software tests, serious program errors, flawed numeric results, improper forms, and/or incorrect program documentation not discovered in the certification process can be verified and use of the particular software version discontinued. In this process, there is ample opportunity for the Energy Commission, the software vendor, and all interested parties to evaluate any alleged problems with the software program.
NOTE 1: The primary rationale for a challenge is unfavorable software tests, which means that for some particular building design with a set of energy efficiency measures, the software fails to meet the criteria used for testing software programs described in Chapter 3.
NOTE 2: Another challenge rationale is flawed numeric results, where the software meets the test criteria in Chapter 3, in particular, when software fails to properly create the standard design building.
Following is a description of the process for challenging software or initiating a decertification procedure:
1. Any party may initiate a review of software approval by sending a written communication to the Executive Director. (The Energy Commission may be the initiating party for this type of review by noticing the availability of the same information listed here.)
The initiating party shall:
•State the name of the software and the program version number(s) that contain the alleged errors.
•Identify concisely the nature of the alleged errors in the software that require review.
•Explain why the alleged errors are serious enough in the effect on analyzing buildings for compliance to justify a decertification procedure.
•Include appropriate data on any media compatible with Windows 7 or newer and/or information sufficient to evaluate the alleged errors.
2. The Executive Director shall make a copy or copies of the initial written communication available to the software vendor and interested parties within 30 days.
3. Within 75 days of receipt of the written communication, the Executive Director may request any additional information needed to evaluate the alleged software errors from the party who initiated the decertification review. If the additional information is incomplete, this procedure will be delayed until the initiating party submits complete information.
4. Within 75 days of receipt of the initial written communication, the Executive Director may convene a workshop to gather additional information from the initiating party, the software vendor, and interested parties. All parties will have 15 days after the workshop to submit additional information regarding the alleged program errors.
5. Within 90 days after the Executive Director receives the application or within 30 days after receipt of complete additional information requested of the initiating party, whichever is later, the Executive Director shall either:
•Determine that the software need not be decertified.
•Submit to the Energy Commission a written recommendation that the software be decertified.
6. The initial written communication, all relevant written materials, and the Executive Director's recommendation shall be placed on the consent calendar and considered at the next business meeting after submission of the recommendation. The matter may be removed from the consent calendar at the request of one of the Commissioners.
7. If the Commission approves the software decertification, it shall take effect 60 days later. During the first 30 days of the 60-day period, the Executive Director shall send out a notice to building officials and interested parties announcing the decertification.
All initiating parties have the burden of proof to establish that the review of alleged software errors should be granted. The decertification process may be terminated at any time by mutual written consent of the initiating party and the Executive Director.
As a practical matter, the software vendor may use the 180- to 210-day period outlined here to update the software program, get it reapproved by the Commission, and release a revised version that does not have the problems initially brought to the attention of the Energy Commission. The software vendor may wish to be the initiating party to ensure that a faulty program version is taken off the market.