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Major additions and changes in the latest version of the minimum-efficiency U.S. model energy standard require the use of more energy-savvy solutions—envelope to interior.

by Barbara Horwitz-Bennett, contributing writer

The latest iteration of the ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2022, Energy Efficiency Standard for Sites and Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, is finally here. In it the authors address weaknesses and ambiguities that existed in the previous versions, while taking advantage of advances in the marketplace that make new technology more readily available and affordable.

ADDING R-VALUE

The University of Maryland’s Jones-Hill House athletic center captures energy efficiencies with its insulated metal panels. Kingspan’s QuadCore Designwall 4000 insulated panel’s insulation core has an R-value of 8.0 per inch.

The building enclosure emerged as an important element to improve—with new performance minimums and more stringent air barrier and thermal bridging requirements now included in the code. ASHRAE 90.1-2022 also mandates that more lighting in a building should be daylight responsive and, for the first time, requires onsite renewable energy solutions to help buildings reduce their burden to the grid.

Here are few of the code changes expected to further improve the energy efficiency of the built environment and some of the products and systems helping to make this new level of performance possible.

ASHRAE 90.1-2002

ASHRAE 90-12022 requires new envelope performance minimums, enhanced lighting efficiencies through more daylightresponsive control, and onsite renewable energy.

To meet ashrae 90.1 requirements, designers have traditionally been able to trade off building enclosure performance with high-efficiency HVAC, lighting, and other systems. While flexibility with trade-offs afford a certain level of design freedom in meeting overall energy performance targets, it can come at the expense of building enclosure integrity, which is key to realizing long-term energy efficiencies.

To remedy this, ashrae 90.1-2022 includes new envelope backstop requirements. Now building designs will need to first comply with overall building energy performance requirements and then prove that the proposed envelope performance is no more than a certain percentage worse than a prescriptive envelope. As calculated by the U.S. Department of Energy’s COMcheck compliance software, the proposed envelope performance factor can’t exceed the baseline envelope by more than 15% in multifamily, hospitality and student housing, and 7% for all other building types.

This approach ensures that a building will have an acceptable minimum envelope performance level while simultaneously allowing the design team to have flexibility in deciding the envelope components, orientation, shading, and thermal mass of a project.

The key to building envelope performance is capturing thermal efficiencies. Through a prescriptive path, the easiest way to achieve this is by specifying glazing with a low U-factor and solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC). However, for a window-to-wall (WWR) ratio of more than 40%, performance path trade-offs will need to be employed.

That said, Thomas D. Culp, Ph.D., Birch Point Consulting, La Crosse, Wisc., and co-vice-chair of the ashrae 90.1 standards committee assures architects, “Larger WWR with quality views and daylighting for occupant health and well-being is still very much achievable as long as good systems are used such as framing with good thermal breaks or nonmetal pressure plates, low-e glass, gas fill, and perhaps adding a second room-side low-e coating or even triple glazing.”

Insulated Metal Panels from Kingspan help maintain required temperatures for insect breeding and storage at the Aspire Food cricket farm and processing center in London, Ontario.

“Larger window-to-wall ratios ... are still very much achievable as long as good systems are used such as framing with good thermal breaks or nonmetal pressure plates, low-e glass, gas fill, and perhaps adding a second room-side low-e coating, or even triple glazing.”

HIGH-PERFORMANCE THERMAL BOX SPACER

Plastic hybrid, stainless-steel spacer profiles enable architects to reduce the U-factor of the fenestration to meet more stringent codes while maintaining design freedom. U-factor reductions from 0.02 to 0.03 BTU/oF.hr.ft2 can be achieved, and up to 0.05 BTU/oF.hr.ft2 in structurally glazed systems. With a thin stainless steel wrapping the back and sides, and an engineered polypropylene bridging the top, the box spacer delivers the same thermal performance as a non-metal spacer with the high durability performance of a regular metal box spacer.

Technoform www.technoform.com

THERMAL BARRIER

A high-density polyurethane foam, Azo-Core is a high-performance thermal barrier. Its extreme low conductivity enables all aluminum fenestration to meet the ASHRAE 90.1-2022

U-factor requirements and beyond.

Azon International www.azonintl.com

More stringent continuous air barrier requirements are also included in ashrae 90.1-2022

“The air barrier updates include clarifications to the whole building performance testing methods and stringency, design phase requirements, material and assembly requirements and onsite installation verification requirements,” explains 90.1 committee member Benjamin Mayer, building enclosure business director for Siplast in Richmond.

A few examples of the updated whole-building air leakage threshold criteria are:

 The air leakage rate for compliance without having to conduct further diagnostics changed from 0.40 to 0.30 cfm/ft2

 The air leakage rate for compliance when further diagnostics are performed changed from 0.60 to 0.45 cfm/ft2

 Whole-building air leakage testing and measurement is required to be performed on buildings with less than 10,000 ft2 of gross conditioned floor area. For large buildings, the option remains to test or perform a visual inspection.

To meet these stringent requirements, Mayer recommends looking for air barrier products that support whole building performance by offering a solid interface with adjoining systems. The ability to adhere well in low temperatures and withstand high temperature exposure are also beneficial.

FOR A TIGHT ENCLOSURE

Pictured here is Siplast’s Wallcontrol reinforced aluminum air and water-resistive barrier and stainless-steel butyl adhered flashing with a hightemperature butyl adhesive and siliconized release liner. Regarding the latter, the durable stainlesssteel facer is flexible, hand formable and trimmable with standard tools while providing robust puncture, tear, and UV resistance. The flashing is compatible with many substrates and adjoining building enclosure materials.

Siplast www.siplast.com

Another first for the enclosure in this 2022 release is the thermal bridging requirements, which are designed to limit thermal shortcuts through continuously insulated assemblies.

Thermal bridges lead to energy loss and can account for up to 30% of total heat loss, undermining the work done to insulate the building.

“This will be a significant change for designers where they need to pay attention to detailing at balconies, roof edges, parapets, intermediate wall intersections, wall/window interfaces and large penetrations like beams,” says Culp.

Material choice and design are the two best tools for mitigating thermal bridges on a project. If allowed by code, based on the building type and size, wood is the best material on account of its low conductivity. Another good choice is composite plastics. It is also possible to use stainless-steel connections.

In addressing thermal bridging by design, Amanda Karns, director of project services, Kingspan Insulated Panels, North America, recommends specifying continuous insulation systems or varying the thickness and placement of insulation in the right application.

Leonard Sciarra, chair of the ASHRAE envelope subcommittee and technical director/sustainable design leader architect with Farr Associates Architecture & Urban Design in Chicago, adds that changing a continuously supported member to some type of point support along the length enables the designer to place the insulation in-between the supports.

INSULATED METAL PANELS

Offering an industry-leading R-value of R-8.0 per inch, insulated metal panels with QuadCore technology not only deliver superior thermal performance, but design flexibility, fast installation time, unique aesthetics with a wide range of profiles and adjustable module widths.

Kingspan www.kingspan.com

Made from a block of cellular glass, FOAMGLAS Perinsul SIB is made to eliminate thermal bridging beneath exterior masonry veneer walls. This thermal bridge near the foundation has historically been a difficult spot to thermally mitigate as the insulating material needs to meet both structural load and thermal performance requirements. Consequently, cellular glass, with its compressive strength, dimensional stability, and protection against thermal energy loss, not to mention water impermeability, is a great solution for meeting new ASHRAE thermal bridging requirements.

Owens Corning www.owenscorning.com

Revisions in lighting include a reduced lighting power density (LPD) threshold for daylight controls. This threshold is defined as the minimum wattage for zones that require daylight responsive lighting controls.

For this latest update, ASHRAE re-evaluated the wattage threshold against current “state of the shelf” LED technology, dimming and the cost of sensors. The lighting committee found that reducing this threshold from 150W to 75W per daylight zone is cost effective and would result in greater energy savings.

“The lower wattage threshold for daylightresponsive controls means that more luminaires located near windows or skylights will need to be controlled to automatically dim/brighten based on the amount of daylight coming into the space,” explains Michael Jouaneh, leed ap, well Faculty, manager, sustainability and energy standards, Lutron, Allentown, Penn., and a 90.1 Lighting Subcommittee voting member.

He adds the new requirement for continuous daylight dimming in place of daylight switching means less disruptive changes in lighting, which will enable enhanced occupant comfort and energy savings.

PGA TOUR GLOBAL HOME, PONTE VEDRA

In the 1970s, the PGA TOUR chose beautiful Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida for the site of their headquarters. After 50 years of growth, PGA employees were working in 17 separate buildings that were largely unsuited for the way work is performed today.

Renowned architectural firm Foster + Partners was selected to design the modern PGA TOUR headquarters to bring everyone under one roof and embrace new ways of working and collaboration. Sustainability and the flexibility to evolve for the next 50 years were key design objectives at the heart of this project.

According to Foster + Partners, “The new headquarters embody a sense of openness and transparency, with flexible, open floorplates that are non-hierarchical, focusing primarily on collaboration and mobility at the workplace.”

Sustainability goals were high with the building targeting a LEED Gold rating. To that end, the design sought to make the most of the available natural light. Glazed facades and large skylights fill the building with daylight. An extended overhang on the building edge reduces solar heat gain and the roof hosts a series of photovoltaic panels that will support the building’s energy needs.

Blending the lighting control system into the carefully designed aesthetic of the project was another important consideration. The design team custom-ordered black sensors to better complement the stunning wood ceiling, proving that energy efficiency can also be a beautiful thing.

Wireless lighting control systems can be easily modified or reorganized without going back into the ceiling— making it easier to update existing systems to meet new, more stringent code requirements.

With the nLight distributed, intelligent digital lighting controls platform, designers can easily set up a networked lighting control system for occupant comfort and energy savings. Sensors are embedded directly into the luminaires enabling seamless communication with dimmers, switches, and occupancy sensors, both indoors and out.

Acuity Brands www acuity brands .com

The team selected a Vive wireless lighting control system from Lutron to help deliver the flexibility and energy savings the project demanded. For flexibility, the wireless nature of the system—wireless wall controls and sensors—make it easy to add, subtract, or move controls as needed and the system can be easily regrouped with an app.

For sustainability, the automatic controls, manual controls, daylight sensors, and occupancy/vacancy sensors, trim energy use when ample daylight is available, in empty rooms, and when people just want less light.

The Vive wireless lighting control system is a simple, scalable solution with a large suite of lighting control products including sensors, remotes, load controllers and software management. It can help meet all project criteria, including local control, dimming, continuous daylight dimming, and automatic lighting shutoff. Easy to specify, install and update, the system can be programed and controlled with the Vive app on any wireless device. Lutron www.lutron.com

SUN POWER

Engineered and optimized for a maximum output of more than 20% efficiency, PowerZT rooftop solar panels offer a sleek look with its PureBlack technology. As pictured here at the Snowmass Fire Station in Snowmass, Colo., the solar panels carry a 30-year warranty, are PID-resistant (Potential Induced Degradation), and support stable and predictable energy production over time.

Solaria www.solaria.com

RENEWABLE ENERGY PRODUCTS

Onyx Solar’s BIPV solar technology combines architectural glass panels for curtainwall, cladding, skylights, and canopies with power generating photovoltaics. Available in a wide range of configurations including laminated, double-glazing, and triple-glazing make-ups, in addition to different composition, textures and even colors, the technology is also very popular with spandrel areas. Pictured here at Giola 22 in Milan, Italy, designed by Pelli Clarke Partners and installed by Permasteelisa, are Crystalline Silicon photovoltaic glass with exposed, visible solar cells.

Onyx Solar www.onyxsolar.com

Also, for the first time, ashrae 90.1 added a new requirement for an onsite renewable energy system to be installed on new buildings, in the parking lot, or another onsite location. Architects will typically specify photovoltaics, though solar water-heating panels, wind turbines or geothermal sources can be used as well.

This is a prescriptive requirement and may be traded off under the performance path. There are also exceptions for smaller buildings, alterations, or where there is excessive shading.

Regarding renewable energy, it is a challenging topic. “On the one hand, ashrae 90.1 is generally used for single building sites, however, the best economies of scale occur with large-scale offsite renewables. That explains the committee’s current bend towards onsite renewable energy credits,” says Don Brundage, P.E., chair of ashrae, sspc 90.1 committee and principal engineer, codes and standards, Southern Company Services, Atlanta.

“We don’t want a building to get a large credit from offsite renewable energy purchases and then, a few years later, have a scenario where the operator does not renew the renewable purchase agreement and uses more non-renewable energy than one with a renewable energy source located at the building site,” he says.

Renewable energy systems, like these BIPV spandrel glass panels at the Gioia 22 office tower in Milan, Italy, can help buildings achieve new ASHRAE 90-1-2022 for renewable energy systems.

Requiring just 10% of the roof space occupied by average solar panels, Aeromine Technologies’ motionless system harvests wind and generates up to 50% more energy at the same cost as rooftop solar PV. Between 20 and 40 soundless units can be installed on the edge of a building facing the predominant wind direction. Designed to work seamlessly with a building’s existing electrical system, the wind solution can work in tandem with rooftop solar to generate up to 100% of a building’s onsite energy needs.

Aeromine www.aerominetechnologies.com

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