SACRAMENTO, Calif. — At its Dec. 11 meeting, the California Energy Commission (CEC)voted to push back the effective datefor the 2013 Building Energy Efficiency Standards, also known asTitle 24, from Jan. 1, 2014, to July 1, 2014, after receiving requests from industry organizations for more time to comply with the code, which regulates energy consumption of commercial and residential buildings in the state of California.

According to a release on the CEC’s website: “[The CEC’s] 2013 Public Domain Compliance Software must be used to complete the performance compliance approach of the 2013 Building Energy Efficiency Standards. However, the public domain software for the 2013 Standards does not yet provide the full feature set needed for building and alteration projects seeking building permits in early 2014. Further, time is needed for the building industry and local building departments to learn and adapt to the new tools. Implementing the standards without software completed and sufficient adoption time would place property owners and the building industry in an untenable situation by significantly impeding their projects' design and permitting processes.”

Karim Amrane, vice president, regulatory and research at Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI), said they are pleased with the CEC’s decision to delay the effective date of the 2013 Building Energy Efficiency Standards.

“AHRI had an issue with the implementation date of the economizer fault detection and diagnostics requirement, which was set for Jan 1, 2014,” Amrane said. “We don’t have an issue with the requirement itself, but wanted more time for manufacturers to comply with it. This should take care of our issue with the implementation date.”

Publication date: 12/9/2013

Want more HVAC industry news and information? Join The NEWS on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn today!