The local enforcement agency, typically associated with a city or county government, has primary responsibility for enforcing the California Energy Commission’s Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Energy Standards). Low-rise residential buildings must obtain a permit from the local enforcement agency before a new building or addition is constructed, and before alterations are made to existing buildings. Before a permit is issued, the local enforcement agency examines the plans, specifications and compliance documentation for the proposed building to verify compliance with all applicable codes and standards. The enforcement agency’s plan check responsibility is to verify compliance with the Energy Standards, which is done by comparing the certificate of compliance (CF1R) with the plans and specifications for the building.
Once the enforcement agency determines that the proposed building (as represented in the plans and specifications) complies with all applicable codes and standards, a building permit may be issued. Once construction starts, the inspector verifies that the installed building components (HVAC equipment, fenestration, lighting, insulation, and so forth) match the CF1R. After construction is complete, the local enforcement agency performs the final inspection. If the building conforms to the plans and specifications approved during plan check, which includes all applicable certificates of installation (CF2R) and certificates of verification (CF3R).
The compliance and enforcement processes require participation from the architect or building designer, specialty engineers (mechanical, electrical, civil, and so forth), energy consultants, contractors, the owner, third party inspectors (Home Energy Rating System [HERS] Raters), and others. This chapter describes the overall compliance and enforcement process, and the responsibilities throughout the permit process.
Certain equipment, products, and devices must be certified to the Energy Commission by the manufacturer that it meets requirements under Title 24, Part 6, and associated appendices. The Energy Commission makes no claim that the listed equipment, products, or devices meet the indicated requirements or, if tested, will confirm the indicated results. Inclusion on these lists only confirms only that a manufacturer certification has been submitted to and accepted by the Energy Commission. Additional information about the required information for manufacturers to certify products and for lists of certified products:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/title24/equipment_cert/
In residential buildings, the following must be certified by the manufacturer:
•Airflow measurement apparatus - forced air systems
•Airflow measurement apparatus - ventilation systems
•Air-to-water heat pump systems
•Intermittent mechanical ventilation systems
•Low leakage air-handling unit
•Occupant-controlled smart thermostats
•Demand responsive control systems
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§10-103; |
Registration of compliance documentation is needed for any construction for which HERS verification is required for compliance. Registration requirements are described in this chapter and throughout this manual. Also, Reference Residential Appendix RA2 and Reference Joint Appendix JA7 provide detailed descriptions of procedures and responsibilities for registration of CF1R, CF2R, and CF3R.
Registration is needed for all low-rise residential buildings for which compliance requires HERS field verification. For all newly constructed homes, registration is required. There are some exceptions for additions and alterations. When registration is required, compliance documents are electronically submitted to an approved HERS provider data registry (HERS registry) for registration and retention.
Compliance documents submitted to the registry shall be certified by the applicable responsible person (§10-103). The registry will assign a unique registration number to the document(s) when completed and certification (by an electronic signature) is provided by the responsible person. The registry will retain the unique registered document(s) which are available via secure Internet access to authorized users. This allows users to make paper copies of the registered document(s) for purposes such as submittal to the enforcement agency, posting copies in the field for inspections, and providing copies to the building owner. (See Section 2.2.9.)
Authorized users of the registry include energy consultants, builders, building owners, construction contractors and installers, HERS Raters, enforcement agencies, and the Energy Commission. Authorized users are granted read/write access rights to the electronic data associated with their project(s) or responsibilities.
Documents submitted to public agencies for code compliance are public information.