This piece was originally published in the March/April 2019 issue of electroindustry.

Andrei Moldoveanu, Technical Director, NEMA

The International Energy Conservation Code has entered into a three-year review cycle. All proposals submitted by an early January deadline will be processed this year. The process involves three stages. In the first stage, the proposals are published to prepare for a public hearing. The weeklong public hearing, which consists of all- day sessions, allows supporters and opponents of each proposal to state their cases in front of a committee that votes after the hearing ends. To complete the process, a second public hearing is held and all International Code Council members cast a final vote. NEMA’s High Performance Buildings Council’s Codes and Standards Review Committee (CSRC) started preparations for this cycle early in 2018 NEMA Sections were informed about the opportunity and the process, and the CSRC started preparing proposals that may fall outside a specific NEMA Section’s scope but affect a number of them.

The submitted proposals come from a variety of sources:

• Outlet and Switch Box Section—5OS—1
• Electric Resistance Heating Section— 3DCRH—4
• CSRC—26

The large majority of the CSRC proposals are related to lighting applications (warehouse control, light reduction controls, general lighting, parking garages, antimicrobial lighting, etc.). The rest involve energy monitoring (Electrical Submeter Section—5ESM), auto-receptacle control (Wiring Device Section—5WD), Grid-Interactive Electric Thermal Storage (Energy Storage Systems Section—8ES), and more.

Next, CSRC Members will prepare a public hearing. The Members, along with NEMA field reps and staff, will then review all submitted proposals and devise strategies to support those   of interest to NEMA Members but also oppose the ones that may be detrimental to their businesses.