Atlanta, Georgia: ASHRAE has informed via an official communiqué that according to a recent analysis conducted by Pacific Northwest National Laboratories (PNNL) in support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Building Energy Codes Program, more than 30% energy savings can be achieved using ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2016 – Energy Efficiency Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, published in October 2016. The communiqué added that an update on the preliminary results of the 90.1-2016 progress indicator report was made at the recent 2017 ASHRAE Winter Conference.

The communiqué revealed that PNNL conducted the energy savings analysis using the 2004 standard as baseline, and added that the results are considered preliminary and are expected to be deemed final in October 2017 when DOE publishes its final determination.

Furthermore, ASHRAE said that PNNL’s analysis showed that for the whole building energy consumption, national aggregated site energy savings a­re 34.1% and energy cost savings are 34.2%, when compared to the 2004 standard.

“For more than 40 years, ASHRAE and IES members have strived to build upon the energy savings measures in each update of Standard 90.1, most recently released in its 10^th edition,” said Tim Wentz, President of ASHRAE. “Each year the challenge grows as technology becomes more efficient.  That we continue to build upon the savings speaks to the ability of our industry to adapt and transform as those technologies change and more advanced technologies become more cost effective.”

Mark Lien, IES Industry Relations Manager and liaison to the Standard 90.1 committee, added: “The Illuminating Engineering Society has actively engaged with ASHRAE since 1975 providing technical support and co-developing standards. Compliance with recommended light levels is verified using a database of luminaires.  These baseline products were reevaluated and updated to reflect the market shift toward higher efficiency lighting sources.  We are proud of the dedicated members of the Lighting Subcommittee and the Standard 90.1 committee and their significant contribution to the energy savings achieved by the 2016 version.”