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Factory Exemptions to California Energy Code?

N

nealderidder

Sawhorse
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
394
Location
Sacramento, CA
I'm looking at the alteration of a former factory space. We'll be putting new factory/manufacturing type equipment and processes into about 200,000 SF of space and eventually expanding that into 400,000 SF. This is all high-bay steel framed construction with corrugated metal siding. Very similar to a pre-fab metal building with Z-girts and steel frames. The existing building walls are not insulated and the exterior skin is far from weather proof. Seems like I've heard that some Industrial uses are exempt from the CEC but I don't see anything in the code that backs that up. Anyone know of factory/industrial exemptions for CEC or am I going to have to insulate and re-skin this entire building?
 
Start with 100.0 Scope. It's a convoluted code and the short answer is that it's not exempt from the energy code, but if you're not heating or cooling the structure then you don't need to insulate it. Insulation is only one aspect of the energy code though, so it's not all or nothing. Check out Table 100.0-A
 
From CBC 1203:
1699921937171.png​

If you aren't intending to heat or cool the space, then CEC efficiency standards for heating and cooling would not apply.

If you have accessory offices within the factory (building-within-a-building) that get heated or cooled, then those would be associated with human comfort and would need to have appropriate energy standards applied to them.

I recently saw an uninsulated warehouse space where there was just a few workstations in the unconditioned space, where people normally sit and oversee operations. Most of the rest of the building was for material storage and handling and queuing. At those individual workstations, overhead infrared electric heaters were installed (like you see at outdoor restaurants). The radiant heaters keep the workers warm enough, and when you compare the energy usage for those few heaters against the overall size of the warehouse space (watts per SF), it is very energy efficient.

So the first question is: do you NEED the factory to be heated or cooled?
 
Yikes said:
From CBC 1203:

If you aren't intending to heat or cool the space, then CEC efficiency standards for heating and cooling would not apply.

If you have accessory offices within the factory (building-within-a-building) that get heated or cooled, then those would be associated with human comfort and would need to have appropriate energy standards applied to them.

I recently saw an uninsulated warehouse space where there was just a few workstations in the unconditioned space, where people normally sit and oversee operations. Most of the rest of the building was for material storage and handling and queuing. At those individual workstations, overhead infrared electric heaters were installed (like you see at outdoor restaurants). The radiant heaters keep the workers warm enough, and when you compare the energy usage for those few heaters against the overall size of the warehouse space (watts per SF), it is very energy efficient.

So the first question is: do you NEED the factory to be heated or cooled?
Click to expand...
Excellent question. I suspect it's going to be mostly unconditioned space with few enclosed offices. Thanks everyone for the great feedback.
 
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