NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1975 SESSION

 

 

CHAPTER 434

SENATE BILL 151

 

 

AN ACT TO ESTABLISH POLICY FOR STATE AGENCIES TO PERFORM ENERGY CONSUMPTION ANALYSES ON MAJOR CONSTRUCTION OR RENOVATION OF BUILDINGS.

 

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

 

Section 1.  (a) The General Assembly hereby finds:

(1)        that State‑owned and assisted facilities have a significant impact on the State's consumption of energy;

(2)        that energy conservation practices adopted for the design, construction, and utilization of these facilities will have a beneficial effect on the State's overall supply of energy;

(3)        that the cost of the energy consumed by these facilities over the life of the facilities must be considered, in addition to the initial cost of constructing such facilities; and

(4)        that the cost of energy is significant and facility designs must take into consideration the total life‑cycle cost, including the initial construction cost, and the cost, over the economic life of the facility, of the energy consumed, and of operation and maintenance of the facility as it affects energy consumption.

(b)        The General Assembly declares that it is the policy of the State of North Carolina to insure that energy conservation practices are employed in the design of State‑owned and assisted facilities. To this end the General Assembly encourages State agencies to analyze the cost of energy consumption of each facility constructed or each major facility constructed or renovated, over its economic life, in addition to the initial construction or renovation cost.

Sec. 2.  For purposes of this act:

(a)        The term "State agency" means the State of North Carolina or any board, bureau, commission, institution, or other agency of the State, or any board or governing body of a political subdivision of the State, or an agency, commission, or authority of a political subdivision of the State.

(b)        The term "facility" means any building or facility on which construction is initiated six months or more after the effective date of this act.

(c)        The term "major facility" means any building or facility of 40,000 or more gross square feet on which construction or renovation is initiated six months or more after the effective date of this act, and wherein significant energy demands will exist.

(d)        The term "State facility" or "major State facility" means a facility constructed, or a major facility constructed or renovated, by a State agency.

(e)        The term "State-assisted facility" or "major State-assisted facility" means a facility constructed, or major facility constructed or renovated, in whole or in part with State funds or with funds guaranteed or insured by a State agency.

(f)         The term "initial cost" means the required cost necessary to construct a facility or construct or renovate a major facility.

(g)        The term "economic life" means the projected or anticipated useful life of a facility.

(h)        The term "life-cycle cost" means the cost of a facility including its initial cost, and the cost, over the economic life of the facility, of the energy consumed and of operation and maintenance of the facility as it affects energy consumption.

(i)         The term "energy consumption analysis" means the evaluation of all energy consuming systems and components by demand and type of energy, including the internal energy load imposed on a facility by its occupants, equipment and components, and the external energy load imposed on the facility by climatic conditions.

Sec. 3.  (a) The General Assembly authorizes and directs that State agencies shall carry out the construction of State facilities, and the construction and renovation of major State facilities, under their jurisdiction or programs for the construction of State-assisted facilities and the construction and renovation of major State-assisted facilities in such a manner as to further the policy declared herein, insuring that life-cycle cost analyses and energy conservation practices are employed in new State-owned and assisted facilities and in new or renovated major State-owned and assisted facilities.

(b)        Each State agency having jurisdiction over any State-owned or assisted facilities' construction program shall evaluate each project, and if consistent with good architectural, engineering, and economic practice, require life-cycle cost analysis. Nothing in this act shall deprive or limit any State agency which has review authority over design or construction plans from requiring a life-cycle cost analysis.

(c)        This life-cycle cost analysis shall include but not be limited to such elements as:

(1)        the coordination, orientation and positioning of the facility on its physical site;

(2)        the amount and type of fenestration employed in the facility;

(3)        thermal characteristics of materials, and the amount of insulation incorporated into the facility design;

(4)        the variable occupancy and operating conditions of the facility, including illumination levels;

(5)        architectural features which affect energy consumption; and

(6)        an energy consumption analysis of the major facility's heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning system, lighting system, and all other energy‑consuming systems. The energy consumption analysis of the operation of energy‑consuming systems in the major facility should include but not be limited to:

a.         the comparison of two or more system alternatives;

b.         the simulation or engineering evaluation of each system over the entire range of operation of the major facility for a year's operating period; and

c.         the engineering evaluation of the energy consumption of component equipment in each system considering the operation of such components at other than full or rated outputs.

(d)        The life-cycle cost analysis performed for each major facility shall provide but not be limited to the following information:

(1)        the initial estimated cost of each energy‑consuming system being compared and evaluated;

(2)        the estimated annual operating cost of all utility requirements;

(3)        the estimated annual cost of maintaining each energy‑consuming system; and

(4)        the average estimated replacement cost for each system expressed in annual terms for the economic life of the major facility.

(e)        The life-cycle cost analysis shall be certified by a registered architect or registered professional engineer, or by both architect and engineer, particularly qualified by training and experience for the type of work involved, and in conformance with the provisions of G.S. 133‑1.1.

(f)         Provided, however, that in order to protect the integrity of historic buildings, no provision of this Chapter shall be interpreted to require such analysis with respect to any property eligible for, nominated to, or entered on the National Register of Historic Places, pursuant to the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, P.L. 89-665; any historic building located within an historic district as provided in Chapters 160A or 153A of the North Carolina General Statutes; any historic building listed, owned, or under the jurisdiction of an historic properties commission as provided in G.S. Chapters 160A or 153A; nor any State-owned or State-assisted historic property.

(g)        Selection of the optimum system or combination of systems to be incorporated into the design of the major facility shall be based on the life-cycle cost analysis over the economic life of the facility.

Sec. 4.  The chief executives of all State agencies, as defined in this act, shall be responsible for dissemination and effective performance of the policy established herein.

Sec. 5.  The provisions of this act shall not apply to municipalities or counties, nor to any agency or department of any municipality or county.

Sec. 6.  This act shall become effective July 1, 1975.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 29th day of May, 1975.