The Lighting Controls Association took a look at the latest edition of the International Energy Conservation Code, IECC 2015, in an article by Craig DeLouie. DeLouie said the entire lighting control section of the code has been revised in the new version.
The IECC, which regulates design and construction of buildings for the use and conservation of energy over the life of the building, is a template that states, municipal and other jurisdictions can use to build their own energy codes for buildings.
"The 2015 IECC features more restrictive lighting power allowances. A comparative review of the Building Area Method lighting power allowances show them to be roughly in alignment with the ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2013 energy standard. For example, the power allowance was adjusted down from 0.9W/sq.ft. to 0.82 for office, 1.4 to 1.26 for retail, 1.2 to 0.87 for school/university, and 1.0 to 0.9 for healthcare clinic. Warehouse saw an increase from 0.6 to 0.66W/sq.ft.
"Beyond adjustments to the lighting power allowances using both the Building Area and Space by Space compliance methods, the most notable changes in the 2015 version are in its mandatory controls requirements and a new control-related advanced energy efficiency option. In fact, the entire lighting control section of the code has been revised."
Read the full article, which goes into good detail on new requirements for manual and automatic controls, daylight-responsive systems, commissioning and so forth: Decoding IECC 2015
