The proposed measure addresses automated demand control of controlled receptacles for newly constructed commercial buildings, building additions and building alterations. Under the recommendation, all commercial building areas that are required to install controlled receptacles and demand responsive lighting controls, those building areas will also be required to make the controlled receptacles capable of responding to a demand response signal in accordance with Section 110.12 Demand Management. For newly constructed commercial buildings, additions and alterations that are not required to install both of these items, the building would be exempt from the proposed requirements.

The Alliance proposal gives building owners and operators another tool to save energy and money during demand response events or other times when electricity is most costly. The effort involved close collaboration with the IOU CASE Team. CEA and the IOU Case Team teams share three main objectives in pursuing their joint work:

Improve upon and expand Demand Response (DR) requirements to ensure new buildings are DR-ready

Increase the use and effectiveness of DR

Clarify and simplify existing requirements

The two teams support three avenues in the 2022 update of Title 24 to achieve the objectives:

Transition to a wattage threshold from of a square footage threshold to ensure that more buildings and more areas of a building will have demand responsive lighting

Eliminate confusing language to simplify requirements for wider adoption

Incorporate DR controlled receptacles to expand DR beyond lighting and HVAC

On September 9, 2020, the Energy Commission held a public hearing on the proposed measure and during which there was a general positive response. Questions were fielded about specific uses that building occupants might adopt for controlled receptacles and the potential effects in those use cases in a demand response event. The Commission’s response emphasized that the recommendation does not require use of control programs for critical loads but offers the option to building owners and operators to utilize controls in situations beneficial to their demand management plan.

The period for public comments closed on September 24th. A final review including requests for modification to determine if there are legitimate issues raised by stakeholders is underway. During the current Internal Express Phase of the rule-making, the Energy Commission will evaluate the measure for inclusion in 45-day language (proposed language for 2022 Energy Standards), which begins in January 2021 and precedes measure adoption scheduled for April 2021.

CEA’s collaboration with the IOU CASE Team was essential to the success of the DR proposal and and is a prime example of how the diversity of CEA’s membership allows the Alliance to leverage the wealth of collective experience and wide range of perspectives to identify problems, develop solutions, and to cultivate opportunities for cooperation in testing potential solutions for improved building energy codes and standards in California.

READ CEA’S PROPOSAL: DEMAND RESPONSIVE CONTROLLED RECEPTACLES

In 2020, the Alliance submitted a major proposal to update the language on Exceptional Designs in the administrative code, Part 1 of Title 24 to the California Energy Commission (Energy Commission). The proposal offered a new design option for nonresidential buildings that uses measured building performance as the primary method for verifying energy code compliance.

After extensive review the Energy Commission has declined to accept the recommendation for the 2022 code cycle. During internal legal review the Commission concluded that it is not within their authority to offer a regulatory pathway that uses post-occupancy information as a metric for compliance. Specifically, the Energy Commission cited that the Warren-Alquist indicates that while the Energy Commission has the capacity to set building design standards to guide design and construction, it does not have jurisdiction over building operations. The CEC clarified that although occupancy stage standards are not within their purview, it does not mean that they are uninterested in the option as presented, but that a revision of the Warren-Alquist act would be required to adopt a measure such as CEA’s proposal that includes post-occupancy operations.

The Energy Commission’s response is not entirely unexpected and gives CEA valuable information. It confirms that there is significant policy work required to modify the Warren-Alquist act that in turn would allow for the suggested modifications on Exceptional Designs to move forward.

Two additional areas for further investigation are liability and enforcement. Developing proposed solutions to address how liability transfers from building owner to operator and how cooperation with municipalities would work to ensure compliance that relies on post-occupancy building use and efficiency are topics that CAE is well positioned to further explore and provide recommendations for the next code cycle. The Alliance is already at work to engage in partnerships with municipalities in which early adoption studies are developed in which CEA’s recommended approach to Exceptional Design’s are offered to local communities.

READ CEA’S PROPOSAL: EXPANDED EXCEPTIONAL DESIGNS

In 2020, the Alliance also collaborated with the California Energy Commission (Energy Commission) in efforts to develop a new Central Nonresidential Data Repository (CNDR) for energy compliance forms and information to support improved compliance and enforcement of California's Building Energy Efficiency Standards.

While CEA’s work on CNDR did not directly involve a proposed change to Title 24, the result will provide transparency on design and construction practices; give authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) one central repository for viewing all completed compliance documents; facilitate identification of non-compliant projects; and highlight gaps in regional enforcement of energy codes.

READ MORE: CEA’S CODE COMPLIANCE IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVE

READ CEA’S PROPOSAL: CENTRAL NONRESIDENTIAL DATA REPOSITORY (CNDR)