Practical advice on commercial lighting from LED retrofits to lighting design.

Ready, set, here we go again. A new set of Title 24 restrictions go into effect January 1, 2020. This time, there are some big changes.

We've been diving head-first into Title 24 for years now, and one of the updates caught our eye. For the first time, healthcare facilities have to comply with California building code.

Keeping up with lighting standards and building codes can be exhausting. If you’re in California, you already have to worry about Title 24. Now, new appliance efficiency standards (also called Title 20) are in effect.

California’s Energy Code is nothing new. More commonly called Title 24 – the set of energy standards for new and upgraded buildings has been around since 1978. But even though it’s decades old, the strict regulations continue to be a difficult road for businesses to navigate, particularly when it comes to commissioning.

In January 2017, the most recent update of Title 24 went into effect. Since these standards were drafted in 2016, they are referred to as the 2016 standards, which can be confusing, since they actually go into effect in 2017. 

The changes may end up being pretty important to a lot of our California customers, especially those eyeing retrofit projects on the horizon.

There's a lot of confusion surrounding California's Energy Code, commonly known as Title 24. Just what is it and what kind of effect will it have on your lighting?

As you'd see published in Section 6 of the California Code of Regulations, Title 24 is a broad set of requirements for “energy conservation, green design, construction and maintenance, fire and life safety, and accessibility” that apply to the “structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems” in a building. The code applies to all buildings in California, not just state-owned buildings.

In recent years, legislatures outside of California have begun to put similar sets of code into place in their respective areas, especially when it comes to lighting.