How California’s Title 24 Lighting Law Affects Dealers

The state of California, which is home to more than 36 million people, has long been a leader in energy conservation. California's energy efficiency regulations have set standards for the rest of the country for building and appliance efficiency. These standards have helped Californians save more than $20 billion in electricity and natural gas costs, according to the California Energy Commission. By 2011, that number is expected to climb an additional $57 billion.

Periodically, of course, standards are updated and raised. The California Energy Commission recently adopted the 2005 Building Energy Efficiency Standards for Residential and Nonresidential Buildings. Updates to the state's Title 24 residential lighting code include comprehensive changes to residential lighting for new and remodeled homes obtaining permits. These standards are intended to significantly reduce lighting energy consumption by requiring the implementation of new energy-efficient technologies.

These code changes represent a significant opportunity for increased energy savings and reduced maintenance in residential lighting. However, these changes also represent new challenges for installation professionals -- new technologies, mandates and designs that differ from their current practice.

Though adopting these new policies and procedures may prove taxing for lighting control installers, similar code adoption has served the state and the environment well.

"Many manufacturers, designers and builders are doing very well with the 2005 Building Energy Efficiency Standards," says Gary Flamm, lighting program lead for Energy Standards of the California Energy Commission. "They are embracing and promoting the standards."

Since 1976 the United States has fluctuated between 8,000 and 12,000 kilowatt-hours (kwh) per person, consumed, according to the California Energy Commission. In comparison, for that same time period, the state of California has remained steady at around 7,000 kwh per person consumed.

For years California has enjoyed successful energy management because of a guiding policy that the state's economy is best served by a diversity of energy supplies. This "portfolio" approach to energy planning has given California the world's most diverse electricity generation system, and has established the state as an international leader in demonstrating new transportation fuels and vehicles.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration study, "Primary Energy Consumed in California by Source, 1997," California ranked second in the nation in the total amount of energy consumed but 48th in the amount of energy consumed per person.

California ranks first in the use of energy in the residential, commercial and transportation sectors and third in the industrial sector. The state is second in the use of natural gas, petroleum and electricity.

Those usage numbers are significant, proving that the adoption of these energy savings codes has truly made the state a front-runner and a pioneer in energy savings. It's reasonable to expect that other states will consider following suit.

"There is no current legislation that meets or exceeds Title 24," says Paul Vrabel of ICF International. "Other states and utilities across the country are taking an active role in energy efficiency and are looking for ways to reduce energy consumption. State officials and utilities are closely watching what California does. Given the rising prices of fuel and energy, people are starting to look more seriously at energy codes."