San Francisco, California, 10.20.05

Overview
As of October 1, 2005, California's Title 24 was revised to include even stricter requirements for energy efficient lighting. If you will be working on a new construction project or a remodel project in California then these new requirements will apply to you. As you may be aware, California's Title 24 regulates everything from floors to ceilings to windows. In respect to lighting, expect a wide spectrum of changes ahead whenever there is work requiring a building permit. The main reason for the existence of Title 24 is to reduce energy consumption. Until now it just concerned kitchens and baths with respect to lighting. Next year it will include utility rooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, and even the front porch light.

Kitchens
The current code requires that when entering the kitchen the first switch has to control fluorescent lighting. The 2005 code will require that 50% of the wattage must be fluorescent. For example, this means that for every four fluorescent fixtures (at 27 watts apiece) only one incandescent fixture (at 100 watts apiece) may be installed. The hood light over the stove does not have to be fluorescent.

When calculating wattage, inspectors will always assume that the maximum rated wattage for a fixture will be used. Plus, the fluorescents will have to be switched separately from any other lighting. One benefit is that there will no longer be a constraint on where the switches are located. Before, the code stated that the first switch leading into the kitchen had to control the fluorescent lighting. Rooms adjacent to the kitchen, such as the breakfast nook, are considered part of the kitchen and must comply with Title 24, if the lighting is on the same switch.

All recessed fixtures must be rated for insulated ceilings and be certified airtight. They must also have electronic ballasts. Regarding wattage calculations, track lighting will be rated at 45 watts per linear foot, while a low-voltage rail system will be rated by the size of the transformer. For example a 600VA (volt /amp) transformer will count as 600 watts for the system.

Bathrooms, Garages, Laundry Rooms, and Utility Rooms
All hardwired lighting must be fluorescent or controlled by a manual-on occupant sensor. Every light in the bathroom, powder room, laundry room, and garage will have to be on a motion sensor, if it is not fluorescent.

So there goes relaxing quietly in the tub, since you will have to flail around a bit to get the lights to come back on if you are still for too long. Also, these motion detectors at present only come in white or ivory, which doesn't bode well for the designer who likes to match switches to the color of the room. Watt Stopper is working on creating a line of designer colors.

Hallways, Stairs, Closets (more than 70 sq. ft.), Dining Rooms, Living rooms, bedrooms, Etc.
All hardwired lighting must be controlled by a motion sensor or dimmer.

Outside
All exterior light fixtures that are attached to the house must be fluorescent or controlled by a motion sensor. Landscape lighting is exempt from this requirement. The trick will be finding non-modern looking lanterns with a fluorescent source, because very few traditional looking fixtures have bi-pin fluorescent lamps as an option. Some lighting companies are working diligently to come up with fluorescent versions that are traditional in appearance.

Why is there a dearth of good looking fluorescent fixtures? The reason is that these revised fixtures must go through UL (Underwriters Laboratories) testing for the new light source. They normally cost $1,500 per fixture for the testing. This can be an expensive proposition for a fixture manufacturer, especially when it is only one state out of fifty that is requiring such a fixture.

Now that you have been scared to death you should know that fluorescent lighting has greatly improved over the years.

Color
Many warm colors are available, such as 2700, 3000, and 3500 degrees Kelvin. The 27K is like incandescent, the 3K (this is the abbreviated version of 3000 degrees Kelvin) is like halogen and the 35K (this is the abbreviated version of 3500 degrees Kelvin) has a clean crisp color that is still complimentary to skin tones. Notice that the lamp (bulb) manufacturers drop off the zeros when referring to these color temperatures. Still, don't rule out the coolest of color temperatures, which is 5000 degrees Kelvin (5K), known as "daylight." This is the best Kelvin rating for color matching and would be a good choice for closets and laundry rooms.

Efficiency
Fluorescent lamps produce up to 5 times more light than a comparable incandescent lamp with the same wattage. A 20 watt fluorescent provides 75 watts worth of illumination.

Life
Compact fluorescents last 10,000 hours compared to a standard household bulbs which last 750 hours.

The Bottom Line: These new changes won't be easy, but unless you will be doing only design work in other states or only non-inspected projects in California, then these regulations will be a part of your daily design work.

Note: If you would like a printout of the new 2005 Standards for Residential and Non-residential buildings go to:

www.energy.ca.gov or call the Energy Hotline at 1-800-722-3300 and ask them to email a link to you.