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Austin's Adoption of ASHRAE S.P. #41 into the Local Energy Code
Abstract
The City of Austin amended the local
Energy Code in December 1984 to incorporate
the principal recommendations of ASHRAE
Standard Project #41. Revisions to the Code
were recommended by a special Task Force
appointed by the City Council; Task Force
members represented major elements of the
construction industry and local community. The
Code revisions were reviewed and supported by
numerous local City boards and commissions
after nearly a year's work by the Task Force.
Principal changes effecting commercial
construction involved deleting OTTV criteria and
adding three new criteria:
1. Wall heating criteria
2. Wall cooling criteria
3. Peak cooling criteria
The new envelope criteria makes
adjustments for building geometry, orientation,
shading, insulation, lighting power and controls.
A performance index encourages good design by
increased awareness of what factors make a
difference, The new lighting code methodology
is based upon specified watts per square foot
for different tasks and gives credit for ceiling
height and room size. Cooling equipment
efficiencies were increased by 5 to 15%. Pipe
and tank insulation Levels were raised and a
variety of minor control modifications were
added.
This paper discusses the code changes
related to commercial building envelopes and
lighting s-system.
Citation
Hart, M. N.; Holder, L.M. (1985). Austin's Adoption of ASHRAE S.P. #41 into the Local Energy Code. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu); Texas A&M University (http://www.tamu.edu). Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /6847.