ASHRAE guidelines and standards open for comment

The below draft is open for a 45-day public review

• BSR/ASHRAE/IES Addendum bx to ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2022, Energy Standard for Sites and Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (first public review draft) Commenting is open March 7 to April 21.

  Currently, ASHRAE 90.1 requires labs to have some combination of VAV and/or exhaust air heat recovery (Option a or b) or to not fully condition lab spaces (Option C). This addendum eliminates Option C because it encourages space conditions that would not meet minimum Standard 55, ASHRAE’s comfort standard, and encourages inhuman conditions for lab workers. The addendum essentially expands the VAV and/or heat recovery options to require both VAV and heat recovery (with some exceptions). This was justified with lifecycle cost analyses showing both are cost effective.

The below drafts are open for a 30-day public review 

• BSR/ASHRAE/ASHE Addendum u to ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 170-2021, Ventilation of Health Care Facilities (first public review draft). Commenting is open April 18 to May 18.

  The glossary changes in this proposed addendum are coordinated with changes that the Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI) editions are incorporating as evolving guidance on the planning and programing of these various treatment settings is prescribed by FGI. The space ventilation tables have been updated with the addition of new FGI spaces that will be detailed in their upcoming editions.

• BSR/ASHRAE/ASHE Addendum v to ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 170-2021, Ventilation of Health Care Facilities (first public review draft). Commenting is open April 18 to May 18.

  This proposed addendum follows up on action earlier this year when the committee expanded the minimum definition of a HEPA filter to include those filters classified under test methods more commonly used outside the United States. The reason behind this was to offer better guidance to international users of Standard 170 and to follow through on ASHRAE’s desire to be a more global organization. For general ventilation air filters, there are two primary classification test standards: the MERV rating system, based on ASHRAE 52.2; and the ISO 16890 standard, which replaced the European Norm (EN 779) a few years ago. This proposed addendum provides equivalencies between ASHRAE 52.2 and ISO 16890 with regard to minimum filtration required by Standard 170.

Visit the ASHRAE portal to make comments on the above addenda.