By Dave Walls

ASHRAE recently published The Strategic Guide to Commissioning (Guide) as a collaborative effort of industry leaders to communicate overarching commissioning goals and objectives. This effort will lead to increased building and system performance while recognizing the benefits of established industry processes and procedures.

The guide was produced by the Building Performance Alliance Committee on Commissioning (BPA) over a two-year period. The BPA consisted of 28 members representing 14 commissioning-related organizations and stakeholders, including International Code Council CEO Dominic Sims.

As commissioning continues to grow and evolve, the industry has recognized the need to work together to find solutions that will fine tune the process and benefit all parties involved. ICC is completely supportive of the goals and objectives to standardize the process for both voluntary and regulatory commissioning, which will ultimately result in better building performance.

During the code development hearings for the 2012 International Codes, commissioning was approved by ICC Voting Members to be part of the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC) and International Green Construction Code (IgCC) beginning with the 2012 editions. The Guide addresses many types of commissioning and most of these are covered within the IECC and the IgCC.

ICC has worked on several initiatives relating to the commissioning of buildings. In 2012, the Code Council created the ICC 2012 G4 Guideline for Commissioning (ICC G4) to assist code officials in understanding how the commissioning process can be applied in a regulatory setting to save time and costs. The ICC G4 was designed to assist in the understanding of the commissioning process, knowledge and skills of a provider, systems checklist, and forms as they apply to code-related commissioning.

Another initiative is an ICC standard that is intended to draw on industry wide best programs and practices to provide a comprehensive framework for the application of commissioning in the design, construction, enforcement, and operation of buildings. The committee was established in late 2013 and has met several times this year. This is another step for ICC as part of a commissioning strategy to effectively provide a full complement of related products and services for code officials and stakeholders.

In 2012, the International Accreditation Service (IAS), a subsidiary of the Code Council, also began an initiative to support regulators in their enforcement of commissioning requirements. Based on a request from the ICC G4 Committee, the IAS Board of Directors approved the establishment of the Technical Advisory Council (TAC) on Sustainability. The IAS TAC members represented a full cross section of the commissioning industry including regulators, standards development organizations, consultants and end users.

After an intensive 18-month development period and two rounds of public comments, IAS Accreditation Criteria for Organizations Providing Training and/or Certification of Commissioning Personnel (AC 476) was approved by the IAS Accreditation Committee during a public hearing in February 2014. As of April 2014, AC 476 is available on the IAS website as a guide for regulators, training agencies and personnel certification bodies to seek accreditation. It also is listed as a reference in the California codes and will be part of the California Building Standard Code supplement for the 2013 edition.

ICC is providing education opportunities on IECC, IgCC, CALGreen and California energy code commissioning requirements. Commissioning will become a larger part of the regulatory requirements as the 2012 and 2015 versions of the IECC and IgCC are adopted. The need to provide a greater understanding of the enforcement and implementation of these requirements will grow, as well.

With the inclusion of commissioning in the I-Codes and standards, there has become a need to provide clarity. Until recently, building owners primarily elected to have their buildings commissioned because of a personal recognition of the benefits or as part of a requirement of a voluntary rating system. Now, when a jurisdiction chooses to adopt commissioning as part of a code or standard, the commissioning provider has a regulatory element that has typically not been there in the past.

Dave Walls is Executive Director of Sustainability Programs for the International Code Council.