Commercial and high-rise residential buildings, including federal buildings, must now meet requirements in the 2007 version of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, according to rulings recently issued by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Found by the DOE to save more energy than the 2004 version, the 2007 version of Standard 90.1 has been established as the commercial-building reference standard for state building energy codes under the federal Energy Conservation and Production Act. As a result, states are required to certify by July 20, 2013, that they have reviewed and updated the provisions of their commercial-building code regarding energy efficiency, including a demonstration that the provisions of their commercial-building codes regarding energy efficiency meet or exceed Standard 90.1-2007.

The DOE also has issued a rule requiring federal buildings designed for construction beginning on or after Oct. 11, 2012, to meet the requirements of Standard 90.1-2007.

Prior to the new rules, federal and commercial buildings had to meet requirements in the 2004 standard.

“The DOE has determined that the quantitative analysis of the energy consumption of buildings built to Standard 90.1-2007, as compared to buildings built to Standard 90.1-2004, indicates national source energy savings of approximately 3.9 percent of commercial-building consumption,” the DOE said. “Additionally, DOE has determined site energy savings are estimated to be approximately 4.6 percent.”

The DOE noted that the 2007 version of the standard contains 11 positive impacts on energy efficiency, including:

• Increased requirements for building vestibules.

• Removal of data-processing centers and hotel rooms from exceptions to HVAC.

• Modification of requirements regarding demand-controlled ventilation, fan-power limitations, retail display-lighting requirements, cooling-tower testing requirements, commercial boiler requirements, part-load fan requirements, opaque-envelope requirements, and fenestration envelope requirements.