New energy requirements for greenhouses and CEA

Added on 22 October 2021

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New energy requirements for greenhouses and CEA

What: ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1 (90.1) is poised to establish energy efficiency requirements related to greenhouses and indoor controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facilities. These model codes can then be adopted by state building commissions. A public draft for these requirements is available for public review starting Friday, September 24, 2021.

Why: The intent of this media alert is to inform the horticulture industry of the 90.1 standard draft addendum "AR" and its public review period where stakeholders can provide their feedback on the draft requirements.

Who: Growers, lighting manufacturers, distributors, energy efficiency consultants, research groups, industry trade groups, developers and facility designers, facility managers, and state officials should be aware of the proposed changes.

Where/When/How: Draft 90.1 Standard addendum "AR" for CEA will be in public comment review until October 31, 2021 after which the comments will go to the 90.1 committee for consideration before adoption. The state of California has recently adopted similar CEA lighting requirements as a part of its broader suite of mandatory energy efficiency requirements that will go into effect in California on January 1, 2023.

At their own discretion, individual states review the 90.1 standard with addendum updates to determine whether to adopt the model standard into their state's building code. Once this occurs, the code takes effect in the state and growers will need to comply.

Proposed language will be posted at https://osr.ashrae.org/ and public comments will be accepted until October 24, 2021.

If you are interested in following the code adoption proceedings, you can monitor the ASHRAE 90.1 website.

Background:

In June 2021, the ASHRAE Standard 90.1 lighting subcommittee passed a standards addendum that proposing aligning Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) lighting efficacy requirements similar to those that were recently adopted in the 2022 California Energy Code. Visit the ASHRAE 90.1 website to see more information about the general ASHRAE model code development process.

The proposed model code updates will apply to greenhouse lighting and indoor CEA lighting. If the requirements are adopted by ASHRAE 90.1, they will only apply to new construction. Comments regarding whether or not to expand to major alterations are welcome. The proposed model code does not apply to existing buildings unless those buildings are being significantly altered through permitted alterations.

Here is a full list of applicability:

ˇ Newly constructed greenhouses or CEA facilities

ˇ Additions to greenhouses or CEA facilities

ˇ Lighting alterations that involve replacing 10 percent or more of the horticultural luminaires serving an enclosed space; only the newly installed luminaires need to meet the requirements and lamp replacements do not count as an alteration.