For Release:
April 9, 2012
Contact: Jodi Scott
Public Relations
678-539-1140
Changes Related to Data Centers, Lighting, Space Heating
Energy Source Proposed for ASHRAE/IES Energy Standard
ATLANTA – A proposed change to the ASHRAE/IES energy
standard regarding data centers recognizes the role that system efficiencies –
vs. only equipment – can play in reducing energy consumption.
“This change regarding data centers represents a building
block as we work to build on the foundation of energy conservation in the
standard,” Drake Erbe, 90.1 vice chair, said. “We recognize that equipment used
in buildings is reaching maximum capabilities in energy efficiency. We now must
examine the role that system efficiencies play in saving energy. Inclusion of
data centers in the standard was a step in that direction.”
With publication of the 2010 standard, ANSI/ASHRAE/IES
Standard 90.1-2010, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential
Buildings, data centers were included within its scope for the first time. Most
data centers were required to have economizers, but some in the data center
industry disagreed with the requirement, maintaining that economizers are
subject to static discharge due to low humidity, gaseous contaminants and
reliability.
Erbe said the 90.1 committee worked with the data center
industry and ASHRAE’s technical committee on mission control facilities,
technology spaces and electronic equipment to develop an alternative path known
as power usage effectiveness (PUE) to allow use of developing technologies for
which there are no energy modeling tools available. The path is addressed in
proposed addendum ap, which is currently open for public comment.
“This is a significant issue to design professionals in
that without a simulation program available to model these systems they have to
receive approval from the authority having jurisdiction for an exceptional
calculation method, which, in most cases, is beyond the jurisdiction’s
knowledge level,” Erbe said. “The PUE values were developed using water cooled
chillers with water size economizers and air cooled chillers with air side
economizers, using prescriptive requirements currently in the standard. The PUE
values for all climate zones are able to be achieved by both of these
conventional system types.”
In total, 15 proposed addenda to Standard 90.1 are open
for public review. For more information, visit
www.ashrae.org/publicreviews.
Also open for public comment is addendum ao, which offers
an alternative compliance path for lighting requirements aimed at the large
number of smaller, simpler buildings that make up a majority of new
construction and retrofit activity, according to Eric Richman, chair of the
standard’s lighting subcommittee. It
provides a less complicated set of requirements that should be easier to apply
to these types of facilities, and also includes more stringent Lighting Power
Density (LPD) limits that may restrict the application of more lavish space
lighting designs not commonly found in these facilities. This compliance path
will replace the current whole building LPD table and only applies to a subset
of building types that encompass many of the smaller, simpler buildings. The use of this method is optional and the
full space-by-space method used by most designers for larger more complex facilities
still remains for application to any building type, Richman said.
In addition, addendum al is open for public review. Users of Appendix G of the standard have
noted that the baseline energy budget is different depending on whether
electricity or natural gas is chosen for either space heating and water
heating, according to Don Brundage, a member of the Energy Cost Budget
subcommittee. In some cases, this can
provide greater energy savings estimates from Appendix G when using one fuel
versus another, and provides a strong incentive to specify the fuel that will
provide the greatest energy savings using Appendix G.
“Proposed addendum al would make the baseline building
energy budget (the minimum code baseline for determining energy savings) the
same regardless of the choice of fuel in the proposed building, eliminating
this bias,” Brundage said. “This is done by setting rules to determine the fuel
to be used in the baseline building for space and water heating. These rules
are based on climate zones for space heating and type of building usage for
water heating. This would make energy
savings estimates using Appendix G more consistent and fair than under the
current version of the standard.”
In addition to addendum al, ao and ap, eight other
addenda are open for public review from March 23 until May 7. They are addenda
af, ag, ai, am, an, aq, ar and at.
Four addenda are open for public review from March 23
until April 22. They are addenda ad, ah, aj and as.
