1. (a) The following minimum standards apply to a major facility:

   1. (1) A major facility of a public agency or an institution of higher education shall be designed, constructed, and certified to at least a ten percent (10%) reduction below the baseline energy consumption determined in accordance with the Performance Rating Method of Appendix G of the ASHRAE, Standard 90.1-2007, as existed on January 1, 2009;
   2. (2) The design engineer/architect certifies conformance by adding the following statement on their final design prints for a project: “I certify that to the best of my knowledge these plans and specifications are as required by the ACA 22-3-2004. Name/Signature/Title/Date”;
   3. (3) Subdivision (a)(1) of this section applies to a major facility project that has not entered the schematic design phase before the effective date of this part, January 1, 2011; and

   4. (4)

      1. (A) An exception or a special standard for a specific type of building or building facility that is found in the ASHRAE, Standard 90.1-2007, is included in the ASHRAE, Standard 90.1-2007, under subdivision (a)(1) of this section.
      2. (B) This supersedes any preceding code requirement.

2. (b) The following minimum standards apply to a major renovation:

   1. (1) A major renovation of a public agency or an institution of higher education shall be certified to at least a ten percent (10%) reduction below the baseline energy consumption determined in accordance with the Performance Rating Method of Appendix G of the ASHRAE, Standard 90.1-2007, as it existed on January 1, 2009;
   2. (2) The design engineer/architect certifies conformance by adding the following statement on their final design prints for a project: “I certify that to the best of my knowledge these plans and specifications are as required by the ACA 25-4-404. Name/Signature/Title/Date”; and
   3. (3) Subdivision (b)(1) of this section applies to a major facility renovation project that has not entered the schematic design phase before the effective date of this part, January 1, 2011.

3. (c) Construction under either subsection (a) or subsection (b) of this section requires:

   1. (1) Indoor water systems shall be designed and constructed to use at least twenty percent (20%) less potable water than the indoor water use baseline calculated for the building after satisfying the fixture performance requirement, after meeting the 2006 Arkansas Plumbing Code;
   2. (2) Outdoor potable water and/or harvested groundwater systems shall be designed to use water-efficient landscape materials and irrigation strategies, including water reuse and recycling, with the goal to reduce potable water consumption by at least fifty percent (50%) of the water that would have been consumed otherwise;

   3. (3)

      1. (A) Commissioning for major facilities/major renovations.
      2. (B) Commissioning practices shall be employed and tailored to the size and complexity of the building and its system components.
      3. (C) Each building component and each energy and water system shall be identified as soon as possible and incorporated into the commissioning process at the earliest phase of the construction process possible.
      4. (D) Commissioning shall continue through the initial operation of the building until the commissioning agent has ensured that the owner’s building systems have been tested and perform according to the design intent and building operators are properly trained; and

   4. (4)

      1. (A) Measurement and verification for major facilities/major renovation.
      2. (B) The project design team, construction team, and the public agency shall jointly determine what level of measurement and verification is appropriate for the size and complexity of the building or its energy and water system components.
      3. (C) To ensure that measurement and verification of performance of a major facility meets this section’s standards:

4. (i) At a minimum, a separate utility meter for electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, and water shall be installed for each building in accordance with established guidelines of the United States Department of Energy under Section 103 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005; and

   1. (ii) The public agency or institution of higher education and the building designers shall:
5. (a) (a) Compare metered data from the first twelve (12) months of the building’s operation with the energy and water design target; and

6. (b) (b) Report the performance results of that comparison to the Arkansas Energy Office or to the governing board of the institution of higher education.

   1. (D) If the report under subsection (c)(4)(C)(ii)(b) of this section shows that the building’s average energy or water consumption over the one-year period after the date of beneficial occupancy is more than the baseline consumption determined in accordance with the Performance Rating Method of Appendix G of the ASHRAE, Standard 90.1-2007, as it existed on January 1, 2009, the designer, the owner, public agency, or institution of higher education, the contractor, the Contract Manager at Risk, and the commissioning agent shall:

      1. (i) Investigate;

         1. (ii) Determine the cause for the failure to achieve this section’s performance standards; and
         2. (iii) Recommend corrections or modifications to meet this section’s performance standards.
         3. (d) If the office or the institution of higher education determines the ASHRAE, Standard 90.1-2007 is not practicable for a major facility or major renovation, the office or the institution of higher education shall determine a practicable alternative standard for the design and construction for that major facility or major renovation.

Codification Notes: United States Energy Policy Act of 2005, Section 103 is found at Pub. L. No. 109-58, § 103.