ASHRAE 90.1-2016 Chapter 5

Prescriptive compliance, just follow the recipe

The checklist route through ASHRAE 90.1-2016. Meet every value in the table for your climate zone and you comply. No modelling, no baselines, no trade-offs, no room to argue.

Chapter 5 envelope tables, applied by climate zone
Section 6 HVAC efficiency and mandatory triggers
Section 9 lighting power density and controls
COMcheck-style tabulated compliance summary
3D building model showing geometry with blue walls, teal roofs, and orange adjacent structures in a grid layout within a design software interface.
The simplest path, when it fits

Built for clarity and constraint

The Prescriptive Compliance Path is ASHRAE 90.1's simplest route. Look up the values that apply to your climate zone and building type, meet or beat every one of them, and you comply. No baseline model, no proposed model, no cost comparison. The trade-off is honest: no flexibility either. Miss a single value and the whole path fails, which is when Energy Cost Budget or the Performance Rating Method come into their own. For straightforward buildings with modest glazing, standard HVAC and code-typical lighting, prescriptive is fastest and cheapest to demonstrate.
Digital floor plan highlighting Diesel Tank Room in green, adjacent to Diesel Pump Room and MSB Room, with navigation and editing tools on the interface.
Envelope Requirements

Table 5.5-1 through 5.5-8 lay out minimum U-factors, R-values and C-factors by climate zone and assembly type. Meet the number, move on. That is the whole appeal.

Digital architectural floor plan interface showing Level B1 layout with highlighted Access Room and editing tools for opacity and color on the blueprint.
Climate Zone Lookup

Everything flows from your ASHRAE climate zone (Chapter 5, sections A/B/C by heating and cooling degree days). Wrong zone, wrong table, wrong answer.

Screenshot of betterbuilding software showing a tags panel with categorized building elements like windows, walls, floors, roof, and retail, alongside a level navigation menu on the left.
Fenestration Limits

Vertical fenestration capped at 40 percent of gross wall area. Skylights capped at 5 percent of gross roof area. Over the limit and you are on a performance path whether you wanted one or not.

Screenshot of a building management software interface showing a list of building levels with options to edit, duplicate, or access roof geometry for Level 03.
Glazing Performance

Maximum U-factor and Solar Heat Gain Coefficient set per climate zone and orientation. Table 5.5 tells you the numbers, the specification tells the certifier you hit them.

3D building model in Betterbuilding software showing color-coded wall shading and window elements with controls and a simulations panel on the right.
Mandatory Provisions

Air barriers, continuous insulation, thermal bridging, moisture control. The mandatory provisions apply no matter which pathway you use, so they follow you into a performance approach too.

User interface of Betterbuilding software showing solar panel renewables settings including surface coverage 100%, cell efficiency 18%, azimuth 0°, tilt 5°, and row size 1.55 meters, with a rectangular solar array preview on the right.
HVAC Requirements

Minimum equipment efficiencies from Section 6, plus economiser, VAV, ventilation control and energy recovery triggers depending on system type and size. Follow the flowchart, tick the boxes.

Betterbuilding interface showing Wall tags and detailed settings for External Wall and Internal Wall, including R-value, solar absorptance, exposure, thickness, density, and heat capacity sliders.
Lighting Power Density

Interior LPD by whole-building method (Table 9.5.1) or space-by-space (Table 9.6.1). Exterior LPD in Table 9.4.2. Pick a method, apply it consistently, document the calculation.

Betterbuilding software interface showing Spaces tab with building zones and settings for Occupants including Design Level, Activity Level, Air Velocity, Work Efficiency, and Clothing Method.
Service Water Heating

Section 7 covers equipment efficiency, pipe insulation, hot water demand control and heat traps. Straightforward but easy to miss on smaller projects where SWH is an afterthought.

Betterbuilding software interface showing energy consumption summary for Example Building with proposed versus reference data, including bar charts and tables of electricity use by category and monthly energy breakdown.
Compliance Documentation

COMcheck or an equivalent tabulated summary showing every prescriptive value met. If a value is missed, the whole compliance route collapses and you switch to ECB or PRM.

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