(a) This subpart establishes voluntary energy conservation performance standards for new residential buildings. The voluntary energy conservation performance standards are designed to achieve the maximum practicable improvements in energy efficiency and increases in the use of non-depletable sources of energy.

(b) Voluntary energy conservation performance standards prescribed under this subpart shall be developed solely as guidelines for the purpose of providing technical assistance for the design of energy conserving buildings, and shall be mandatory only for the Federal buildings for which design for construction began before January 3, 2007.

(c) The energy conservation performance standards will direct Federal policies and practices to ensure that cost-effective energy conservation features will be incorporated into the designs of all new Federal residential buildings for which design for construction began January 3, 2007.

(a) The energy conservation performance standards in this subpart will apply to all Federal residential buildings for which design of construction began before January 3, 2007 except multifamily buildings more than three stories above grade.

(b) The primary types of buildings built by or for the Federal agencies, to which the energy conservation performance standards will apply, are:

(1) Single-story single-family residences;

(2) Split-level single-family residences;

(3) Two-story single-family residences;

(4) End-unit townhouses;

(5) Middle-unit townhouses;

(6) End-units in multifamily buildings (of three stories above grade or less);

(7) Middle-units in multifamily buildings (of three stories above grade or less);

(8) Single-section mobile homes; and

(9) Multi-section mobile homes.

(a) ANSI means American National Standards Institute.

(b) ASHRAE Handbook means American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., ASHRAE Handbook, 1985 Fundamentals. Volume, 1-P Edition.

(c) ASTM means American Society of Testing and Measurement.

(d) British thermal unit (Btu) means approximately the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water from 59 °F to 60 °F.

(e) Building means any new residential structure:

(1) That includes or will include a heating or cooling system, or both, or a domestic hot water system, and

(2) For which a building design is created after the effective date of this rule.

(f) Building design means the development of plans and specifications for human living space.

(g) Conservation Optimization Standard for Savings in Federal Residences means the computerized calculation procedure that is used to establish an energy consumption goal for the design of Federal residential buildings.

(h) COSTSAFR means the Conservation Optimization Standard for Savings in Federal Residences.

(i) DOE means U.S. Department of Energy.

(j) Domestic hot water (DHW) means the supply of hot water for purposes other than space conditioning.

(k) Energy conservation measure (ECM) means a building material or component whose use will affect the energy consumed for space heating, space cooling, domestic hot water or refrigeration.

(l) Energy performance standard means an energy consumption goal or goals to be met without specification of the method, materials, and processes to be employed in achieving that goal or goals, but including statements of the requirements, criteria evaluation methods to be used, and any necessary commentary.

(m) Federal agency means any department, agency, corporation, or other entity or instrumentality of the executive branch of the Federal Government, including the United States Postal Service, the Federal National Mortgage Association, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.

(n) Federal residential building means any residential building to be constructed by or for the use of any Federal agency in the Continental U.S., Alaska, or Hawaii that is not legally subject to state or local building codes or similar requirements.

(o) Life cycle cost means the minimum life cycle cost calculated by using a methodology specified in subpart A of 10 CFR part 436.

(p) Point system means the tables that display the effect of the set of energy conservation measures on the design energy consumption and energy costs of a residential building for a particular location, building type and fuel type.

(q) Practicable optimum life cycle energy cost means the energy costs of the set of conservation measures that has the minimum life cycle cost to the Federal government incurred during a 25 year period and including the costs of construction, maintenance, operation, and replacement.

(r) Project means the group of one or more Federal residential buildings to be built at a specific geographic location that are included by a Federal agency in specifications issued or used by a Federal agency for design or construction of the buildings.

(s) Prototype means a fundamental house design based on typical construction assumptions. The nine prototypes in COSTSAFR are: single-section manufactured house, double-section manufactured house, ranch-style house, two-story house, split-level house, mid-unit apartment, end-unit apartment, mid-unit townhouse, end-unit townhouse.

(t) Residential building means a new building that is designed to be constructed and developed for residential occupancy.

(u) Set of conservation options means the combination of envelope design and equipment measures that influences the long term energy use in a building designed to maintain a minimum of ventilation level of 0.7 air changes per hour, including the heating and cooling equipment, domestic hot water equipment, glazing, insulation, refrigerators and air infiltration control measures.

(v) Shading coefficient means the ratio of the heat gains through windows, with or without integral shading devices, to that occurring through unshaded, 1/8-inch clear glass.

(w) Total annual coil load means the energy for space heating and/or cooling with no adjustment for HVAC equipment efficiency.

(a) The head of each Federal agency responsible for the construction of Federal residential buildings shall establish an energy consumption goal for each residential building to be designed or constructed by or for the agency, for which design for construction began before January 3, 2007.

(b) The energy consumption goal for a Federal residential building for which design for construction began before January 3, 2007, shall be a total point score derived by using the micro-computer program and user manual entitled “Conservation Optimization Standard for Savings in Federal Residences (COSTSAFR),” unless the head of the Federal agency shall establish more stringent requirements for that agency.

(c) The head of each Federal agency shall adopt such procedures as may be necessary to ensure that the design of a Federal residential building is not less energy conserving than the energy consumption goal established for the building.

(a) The COSTSAFR Program (Version 3.0) provides a computerized calculation procedure to determine the most effective set of energy conservation measures, selected from among the measures included within the Program that will produce the practicable optimum life cycle cost for a type of residential building in a specific geographic location. The most effective set of energy conservation measures is expressed as a total point score that serves as the energy consumption goal.

(b) The COSTSAFR Program (Version 3.0) also prints out a point system that identifies a wide array of different energy conservation measures indicating how many points various levels of each measure would contribute to reaching the total point score of the energy consumption goal. This enables a Federal agency to use the energy consumption goal and the point system in the design and procurement procedures so that designers and builders can pick and choose among different combinations of energy conservation measures to meet or exceed the total point score required to meet the energy consumption goal.

(c) The COSTSAFR Program (Version 3.0) operates on a micro-computer system that uses the MS DOS operating system and is equipped with an 8087 co-processor.

(d) The COSTSAFR Program (Version 3.0) may be obtained from:

(a) If a proposed building design includes unusual or innovative energy conservation measures which are not covered by the COSTSAFR program, the Federal agency shall determine whether that design meets or exceeds the applicable energy consumption goal in compliance with the procedures set forth in this section.

(b) The Federal agency shall determine the estimated discounted energy cost for the COSTSAFR prototype building design, which is the most similar of the COSTSAFR prototypes to the proposed building design, by—

(1) Printing out the COSTSAFR compliance forms for the prototype showing the points attributable to levels of various energy conservation measures;

(2) Calculating the estimated unit energy cost on the compliance forms, on the basis of selecting the optimum levels on the compliance forms or otherwise in the User's Manual for each energy conservation measure; and

(3) Multiplying the estimated unit energy cost by 100.

(c) The Federal agency shall determine the estimated discounted energy cost for the proposed building design by—

(1) Estimating the heating and cooling total annual coil loads of the proposed building design with the DOE 2.1C computer program on the basis of input assumptions including—

(i) Shading coefficients of 0.6 for summer and 0.8 for winter;

(ii) Thermostat setpoints of 78 degrees Fahrenheit for cooling, 70 degrees Fahrenheit for heating (6 am to 12 midnight), and 60 degrees Fahrenheit for Night Setback (12 midnight to 6 am, except for houses with heat pumps);

(iii) The infiltration rate measured in air changes per hour as calculated using appendix B of the COSTSAFR User's Manual;

(iv) Natural venting with a constant air change rate of 10 air changes per hour—

(A) When the outdoor temperature is lower than the indoor temperature, but not above 78 degrees Fahrenheit; and

(B) When the enthalpy of the outdoor air is lower than the indoor air.

(v) Internal gains in accordance with the following table for a house with 1540 square feet of floor area, adjusted by 0.35 Btu/ft 2/hr to account for changes in lighting as the floor area varies from 1540 square feet—

(vi) Thermal transmittances for building envelope materials measured in accordance with applicable ASTM procedures or from the ASHRAE Handbook;

(vii) Proposed heating and cooling equipment types included in COSTSAFR or having a certified seasonal efficiency rating;

(viii) Weather Year for Energy Calculations (WYEC) weather year data (WYEC data are on tapes available from ASHRAE, 1791 Tullie Circle, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30329), or if unavailable, Test Reference Year (TRY) weather data (obtainable from National Climatic Data Center, 1983 Test Reference Year, Tape Reference Manual, TD-9706, Asheville, North Carolina) relevant to project location.

(2) Estimating the discounted energy cost for the heating and cooling energy loads, respectively, according to the following equation—

(3) Estimating the discounted energy cost for water heating and refrigerator/freezer energy consumption—

(i) For equipment types covered by the COSTSAFR compliance forms, by multiplying the estimated unit energy cost by 100; or

(ii) For equipment types not covered by COSTSAFR—

(iii) [Reserved]

(4) Adding together the discounted energy costs calculated under paragraphs (c)(2) and (c)(3) of this section;

(d) If the discounted energy cost of the proposed building design calculated under paragraph (c)(4) of this section is equal to or less than the discounted energy cost of the COSTSAFR prototype building design calculated under paragraph (b) of this section, then the proposed building design is in compliance with the applicable energy consumption goal under this part.

In selecting between or among proposed building designs which comply with the applicable energy consumption goal under this part, each Federal agency shall select the design which, in comparison to the applicable COSTSAFR prototype, has the highest Net Savings or lowest total life cycle costs calculated in compliance with subpart A of 10 CFR part 436.