The California Energy Commission (CEC) does not directly enforce the Building Energy Efficiency Standards (Energy Code), Title 24, Part 6 of the California Code of Regulations. Authorities having jurisdiction (AHJ) have the responsibility of issuing building permits for newly constructed buildings or additions and alterations to existing buildings and enforcing the California Building Code (CBC), Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations in totality, including the Energy Code. Most AHJs are local enforcement agencies, typically associated with a city or county government, but can also include other agencies such as the Division of the State Architect (for schools). This chapter of the Single-Family Compliance Manual will show how compliance and enforcement of the Energy Code is achieved in the typical single-family residential building project permitting process used by most AHJs, which follow some version of the permitting process prescribed by the International Code Council (ICC). Figure 2.1-1 shows an idealized version of the ICC permitting process.
Figure 2.1-1: Idealized International Code Council
Permitting Process
for Building Permit Applications
Source: California Energy Commission staff
To assist the enforcement agency, the CEC created three categories of compliance documents for single-family construction projects used to demonstrate compliance with the Energy Code:
•Certificate of compliance documents (CF1R) are completed by the project proponent and submitted to the enforcement agency during the plan review phase (§10-103[a]1).
•Certificates of installation (CF2R) are completed by the installing technician or contractor during construction and submitted to the enforcement agency during inspections throughout the construction phase (§10-103[a]3).
•Certificates of verification (CF3R) are completed by HERS Rater certified by a CEC-approved HERS Provider and submitted to the enforcement agency during the final inspection phase and prior to the enforcement agency issuing the certificate of occupancy (§10-103[a]5).
HERS Raters are independent, third-party agents, made available through the CEC’s Home Energy Rating System (HERS) program. The HERS program consists of HERS Providers, approved by the CEC to train, certify, and oversee HERS Raters, who perform verification and diagnostic testing as required for compliance with the Energy Code.
HERS verification ensures the proposed HERS measures are installed and meet code compliance. The compliance and enforcement process requires participation from the architect, building designer, engineers, energy consultants, contractors, the owner, HERS Raters, and others. This chapter describes the overall compliance and enforcement process and responsibilities throughout the permit process.
During the permit application development phase, certain equipment, products, and devices must be selected for installation or use that are certified to be compliant with the Energy Code. These items are identified on the CF1Rs and are verified during inspection by the enforcement agency. The equipment, products, and devices must be certified to the CEC by the manufacturer that it meets requirements under the Energy Code. The CEC 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 CEC. Additional information about the required information for manufacturers to certify products and for lists of certified products may be found at http://www.energy.ca.gov/title24/equipment_cert/.
In single-family buildings, the following must be certified by the manufacturer:
•Airflow measurement apparatus — forced air systems
•Airflow measurement apparatus — ventilation systems
•Airflow measurement apparatus — whole house fan systems
•Battery and energy storage systems
•Central heat pump water heater performance map
•Demand responsive lighting control systems
•Drain water heat recovery
•Ducted variable-capacity heat pump
•Economizer fault detection and diagnostics
•Intermittent mechanical ventilation systems
•JA13 heat pump water heater demand management system
•Low leakage air-handling unit
•Occupant-controlled smart thermostats
•Residential fault indicator display
The CEC developed the HERS program in part to help ensure compliance with the Energy Code for residential projects that require field verification and diagnostic tests (HERS Verification). Registration of compliance documentation (CF1Rs, CF2Rs, and CF3Rs) is required for any residential construction project for which a CF3R is required. (Not all residential construction projects require a CF3R.) Reference Residential Appendix RA2 and Reference Joint Appendix JA7 provide detailed descriptions of procedures and responsibilities for the registration of CF1R, CF2R, and CF3R.
Compliance document registration is required for all newly constructed homes, most additions, and many alterations. When registration is required, compliance documents must be electronically submitted to a CEC-approved HERS Provider. The HERS Provider services include a HERS data registry (HERS registry) for the registration and retention of compliance documents.
All compliance documents (CF1Rs, CF2Rs, and CF3Rs) submitted to the registry must be certified and signed by the applicable responsible person (§10-103) as well as any other required signatories. The registry will assign a unique registration number to each document when completed, and certification (by an electronic signature) is provided by all signatories. The registry will retain the unique registered documents, which are available via secure Internet access to authorized users. This allows authorized users download unalterable electronic certificates or to make paper copies of the registered documents for purposes such as submittal to the enforcement agency, posting in the field for inspections, or sharing with the building owner. (See Section 2.2.9 of this manual.)
Types of registry users include energy consultants, builders, building owners, construction contractors and installers, HERS Raters, enforcement agencies, and the CEC. Document authors are typically employed by the person responsible for the document, with specific exceptions. Authorized users are granted access rights to the electronic data associated with the projects under their direct control.