S. 2334: 21st Century Energy Workforce Act of 2019

“The Special Surgical Auxiliary Hospital at the Star and Garter” | John Hodgson Lobley (1918)

Later this month the International Code Council will launch another revision cycle for its Group B Codes, during its Committee Action Hearings April 28th through May 8th;  Among the Group B consensus documents will be the International Energy Conservation Code that is widely incorporated by reference into state and local building codes.  We have been picking through the compilation of proposals since its release a few weeks ago.

Of interest to us today is Proposal CE143-19 on Page 387 of the link below that proposes expansion of heat recovery healthcare facility space conditioning systems:

Proposal Monograph for 2021 IECC-C

The proponent indicates that the proposal will reduce energy consumption at an increased cost of construction; with payback periods ranging from 5 to 13 years.   No details about secondary or tertiary effect upon related firmware (one of our preoccupations because interoperability of building control systems are often challenging); only a reference to Addendum V to the 2016 edition of ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1: Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings

Assuming similar safety and sustainability goals, we ask:  How — or to what degree — would acceptance of this proposal contribute to lowering #TotalCostofOwnership for university affiliated healthcare facilities?

The Group B Committee Action Hearings have taken place and the results are posted in the document linked below:

2019 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ACTION HEARINGS ON THE 2018 EDITIONS OF THE GROUP B INTERNATIONAL CODES

Proposal CE143-19 — submitted by ASHRAE — was accepted as submitted.   Any proposal that increases the cost of construction, regardless of the safety and sustainability benefits, we pass on to the mechanical engineers practicing on behalf of the education facilities industry.

Comments are due July 24th.   We will host one teleconference to respond to all of the Group B changes ahead of this deadline on July 15th.

We encourage direct participation in the ICC Code Development Process by our colleagues in the education and university-affiliated healthcare facility industry.   The Group B committees will be meeting again for the Public Comment Hearings in October in Las Vegas, Nevada.   We encourage our colleagues that are within driving distance to attend.

We are happy to walk through specifics of any ICC consensus product any day at 11 AM Eastern time.   We also host monthly breakout teleconferences to sort through concepts in the continually evolving ICC suite that affect the safety and sustainability agenda of the education facilities industry.  See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting during which time we march through an advance agenda that typically focuses on the interoperability, coordination and harmonization of ICC consensus products with the consensus products of the other 300-odd accredited standards developers in the United States.  Available to our subscribers only.

Issue: [Various]

Category: Architectural, Facility Asset Management, Space Planning

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Jack Janveja, Richard Robben, Larry Spielvogel