The Energy Standards primarily requires that total lighting power is within a specified budget, and that lighting controls allows for the efficient operation of installed lighting. This ensures that energy efficient equipment is used to satisfy building lighting needs.
Significant changes for indoor lighting systems in the 2019 update to the Energy Standards include:
•Revisions to all indoor lighting power allowances so that the allowances are based on LED lighting technologies.
•Compliance with the standard is allowed for other appropriate lighting technologies.
•Revisions to Lighting Power Density (LPD) values in Tables 140.6-B thru 140.6-G.
•Revision and streamlining of luminaire classification and wattage requirements.
•New lighting power adjustment for small aperture tunable white LED and dim-to-warm LED luminaires.
•New mandatory occupancy sensing controls for restrooms.
•Clarification and streamlining of manual area control requirements, multi-level lighting control requirements, and automatic daylighting control requirements.
•New Power Adjustment Factors (PAFs) for advanced daylighting devices including clerestories, horizontal slats, and light shelves.
•Revisions and streamlining of alteration requirements. Changes include merging three sections into a single “Altered Indoor Lighting Systems” section and aligning two reduced power options on controls. Table 141.0-F was also revised and consolidated.
•Elimination of the installation certification requirements for line voltage track lighting current limiters and supplementary overcurrent protection panels.
•Healthcare facilities overseen by the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) must comply with some applicable indoor lighting controls requirements as well as the indoor lighting power requirements under the “prescriptive method.”
•The Energy Standards nonresidential indoor lighting requirements are contained in §100.0, §110.9, §110.12, §120.8, §130.0, §130.1, §130.4, §140.0, §140.1, §140.3, §140.6, and §141.0. Their supporting definitions are in §100.1.
•The nonresidential indoor lighting requirements apply to nonresidential buildings, high-rise residential buildings (except dwelling units), and hotel/motel occupancies (including guest rooms).
•The nonresidential indoor lighting requirements are the same for unconditioned spaces and conditioned spaces. Trade-offs are not allowed between unconditioned and conditioned spaces.
•Interior common areas in low-rise multi-family residential buildings are required to comply with the nonresidential indoor lighting requirements if the common area exceeds 20 percent of the building floor area (See §150.0(k)6B).
•High-rise residential dwelling units are required to comply with low-rise residential lighting requirements. The low-rise residential lighting requirements are covered in chapter 6 of the 2019 Residential Compliance Manual.
•Hotel/motel guest rooms are covered by portions of both the nonresidential indoor lighting requirements and the low-rise residential indoor lighting requirements. The low-rise residential indoor lighting requirements are covered in chapter 6 of the 2019 Residential Compliance Manual.
•Qualified historic buildings are not covered by the Energy Standards, as stated in exception 1 to §100.0(a). They are regulated by the California Historical Building Code. However, non-historical components of the buildings such as lighting equipment may need to comply with the Energy Standards. For more information about energy compliance requirements for historic buildings, see Section 1.7.2 of this manual.
•All section (§) and table references in this chapter refer to sections and tables contained in Title 24 California Code of Regulations, Part 6, also known as the Energy Standards or California Energy Code.
The following functional areas in nonresidential, high-rise residential, and hotel/motel occupancies are required to comply with the low-rise residential lighting standards as defined in §130.0(b):
•High-rise residential dwelling units.
•Outdoor lighting attached to a high-rise residential or hotel/motel building and separately controlled from inside of a dwelling unit or guest room.
•Fire station dwelling accommodations.
•Hotel and motel guest rooms. Note that hotel and motel guest rooms are also required to comply with the nonresidential lighting requirements in §130.1(c)8, which require captive card key controls, occupant sensing controls, or automatic controls. In addition, hotel and motel guest rooms shall meet the controlled receptacle requirements of §130.5(d)4.
•Dormitory and senior housing dwelling accommodations.
Note that the above requirements also apply to additions and alterations to functional areas of existing buildings specified above.
All other functional areas in nonresidential, high-rise residential, and hotel/motel occupancies such as common areas, shall comply with the applicable nonresidential lighting standards.
Lighting power allotments are the established maximum lighting power that can be installed based on the compliance approach used, the building type, and building area. Lighting power allotments for an application are determined by one of the following four compliance approaches:
D. Prescriptive approach – Complete Building Method: applicable when the entire building’s lighting system is designed and permitted at one time and when at least 90 percent of the building is one nonresidential building occupancy type (as defined in §100.1). The complete building method may also be used for a tenant space in a multi-tenant building if at least 90 percent of the tenant space is one building occupancy type. A single lighting power density value governs the entire building or tenant space.
E. Prescriptive approach – Area Category Method: applicable for any permit situation including tenant improvements. Lighting power density values are assigned to each of the primary function areas of a building (offices, lobbies, corridors, etc., as defined in §100.1). This approach provides some flexibility to accommodate special tasks by providing an additional power allowance under some circumstances.
F. Prescriptive approach – Tailored Method: applicable for a limited number of defined primary function areas when additional flexibility is needed to accommodate special task lighting needs. Several layers of lighting power allotments may be allowed depending on the space and tasks. Lighting power allotments are determined room-by-room and task-by-task. The Tailored Method and the Area Category Method can be used in conjunction when some areas in a building use the Tailored Method while others use the Area Category Method.
G. Performance approach: applicable when the designer uses an Energy Commission-certified compliance software program to demonstrate that the proposed building's energy consumption (including indoor lighting power) meets the energy budget. The performance approach incorporates one or more of the three previous methods which set the appropriate lighting power allotment used in calculating the building’s custom energy budget.
7. The performance approach allows energy allotments to be traded between space conditioning, mechanical ventilation, indoor lighting, service water heating, envelope, and covered process loads. Such trade-offs can only be made when permit applications are sought for those systems involved. For example, under the performance approach, a building with an envelope or mechanical ventilation system that is more efficient than the prescriptive efficiency requirements, may be able to meet the energy budget for a standard designed building with more lighting power than allowed under the three prescriptive lighting approaches.
8. No additional lighting power allotment is gained by using the performance method unless it is traded from the space conditioning, mechanical ventilation, service water heating, envelope, or covered process systems. Therefore, the performance approach is not applicable to lighting compliance alone. The performance approach may only be used to model the performance of indoor lighting systems that are covered under the building permit application.
The compliance process begins with the builder submitting certificates of compliance to the responsible code enforcement agency. The certificates provide all design information necessary to show that the proposed project will comply with the Energy Standards. Construction may not begin until all certificates of compliance are reviewed and approved by the agency.
As construction proceeds, builders must submit certificates of installation certifying that installed equipment and systems meet or exceed the design criteria specified in the approved certificates of compliance. Code enforcement officials may conduct field inspections to verify information submitted by builders. At the end of construction, acceptance tests must be performed by qualified contractors on all specified systems to ensure they are installed correctly and function per code requirements.
If inspections or acceptance tests identify noncompliant or nonfunctional systems, these defects must be fixed. Once the code enforcement agency determines the project complies with all building code requirements, including the energy code, the building will receive a certificate of occupancy that certifies that the building is in compliance with the building code.
Figure 5-1 below, shows the process for complying with the nonresidential indoor lighting requirements.
Figure 5-1: Lighting Compliance Flowchart
A. Choose a compliance method (refer to the top part of Figure 5-1):
First, select either the prescriptive or performance approach for complying with the nonresidential indoor lighting power requirements of the Energy Standards.
For the performance approach method, lighting power calculations can be performed using an approved software program (such as CBECC-Com). Refer to the compliance software documentation for details.
For the prescriptive approach, choose from among the complete building method, the area category method, or the tailored method.
Next, calculate the “allowed” lighting power and the “adjusted” lighting power.
Allowed lighting power is the total of all of the lighting allowed (using lighting power values from Table 140.6-B, Table 140.6-C and Table 140.6-D).
Adjusted lighting power is design lighting power minus lighting control credits minus lighting power reduction.
B. Evaluate the calculations – allowed lighting power vs adjusted lighting power
If you calculate that the adjusted lighting power is less than or equal to the allowed lighting power, the proposed lighting complies with the Energy Standards.
If you calculate that the adjusted lighting power is greater than the allowed lighting power, the proposed lighting does not comply with the Energy Standards. In that case, either the proposed lighting power must be reduced, or additional lighting credits must be acquired through improved efficiency in other systems.