photo by Kat Clay
California has long been a leader in pushing forward environmental legislature. Car emissions standards were pioneered here. And in 1978 the Energy Efficiency Standards for Residential and Non-residential Buildings were established. They get updated every three years and the (so called) 2008 California Energy Code went into effect January 1, 2010. So, what does this mean to a homeowner?
Title 24
Commonly referred to as Title 24, the Energy Code has rules for how houses are built. This is in addition to the general California Building Code. New houses, additions, and remodels all have to follow these rules. They cover such things as insulation, window glazing, heating systems, and lighting. I’m going to go over the lighting rules so you are prepared when you start planning a home improvement project.
Kitchens
People spend a fair amount of time in their kitchen and want bright lights to work under. So the kitchen gets especially strict rules for lighting. The main rule is this—at least 50% of lighting watts have to be fluorescent or (certified) LED. And not the kind you can unscrew and replace with a normal incandescent bulb. The tricky word in the rule is “watts”. Since fluorescents and LEDs use less watts to produce the same amount of light (which is how they save energy) this means much less than half of your lights can be incandescent.
Bathrooms, Laundry Rooms, Closets, Garages, Utility Rooms
This next group of rooms have a different, more lenient rule. All lights have to either be fluorescent or LED or have a special switch with a vacancy sensor. In other words, a sensor that turns the light off after a while if no one moves in the room. If you sit very still in your bathtub you would have to wave a hand to get the light to come back on!
Living, Dining, and Family Rooms, Bedrooms, Offices, Halls
Here you are allowed one more option—a very popular one too. Besides fluorescent, LED, or vacancy sensor you can have a dimmer switch. After all, you don’t want to have to keep waving your arms where you spend a lot of time relaxing.
More Info
There are additional rules for outdoor lights, inside cabinet lights, and larger houses. To learn more than you ever wanted to know visit the California Energy Commission. The best really simple summary on the topic is the Residential Lighting Design Pocket Guide from a group at UC Davis. As of today it’s not downloadable from their website, so you could email them about mailing you a copy, or check back later at their website. [6/16/10] It’s now available—it’s the second download on the right side of the page.
I hope this article has been illuminating!