ASHRAE Strives to Provide Advanced Energy Savings by 2010

August 17, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS

ASHRAE wants to achieve 30% energy savings in the 2010 standard when compared to ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA 90.1-2004.

The energy savings are part of an ASHRAE goal to achieve market-viable net-zero energy buildings by 2030.

"We must improve minimum building energy efficiency standards if we are to truly improve energy performance of the built environment," said Kent Peterson, P.E., ASHRAE president.

"As such, ASHRAE is making a more aggressive effort to improve the minimum energy efficiency of new building construction, not only in the United States, but throughout the world."

According to ASHRAE, the plan to achieve 30% savings in 2010 is based on an average for all building types and climate weighted energy cost savings and may not be achieved for every building in every climate. Other elements of the plan include:

• Estimates of energy savings improvement based on the total annual energy cost of the facility.
• Energy savings estimated on ongoing basis.
• Improvement calculations made in conjunction with technical resources made available by the U.S. Department of Energy.

According to ASHRAE, any changes to ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA 90.1 will continue to follow the ASHRAE standards development process, which is approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and based on achieving consensus.

Those interested in contributing ideas on advanced energy savings can submit comments at www.ashrae.org/technology/page/812.

Source: American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers Inc. (ASHRAE).