Title 24 Requirements by Building Type
Nonresidential requirements are not uniform across occupancies. What a building is used for changes its lighting power allowance, its ventilation rates and which systems dominate the compliance outcome.
Why occupancy changes the answer
Two buildings of identical size can face materially different requirements because the Energy Code assigns values by function rather than by floor area. Indoor lighting power is set per primary function area — an office, a lobby, a corridor, a sales floor and a warehouse each carry their own allowance — so the mix of spaces inside a building decides how much installed lighting power it is permitted.
Ventilation follows the same logic, and the systems that decide compliance shift with it. A retail fit-out is usually settled by lighting. A restaurant is usually settled by kitchen ventilation. A warehouse is usually settled by whether the space is conditioned at all.
What stays the same
The document family. Nonresidential buildings, hotels and motels, and high-rise multifamily all use the NRCC certificates of compliance, split by discipline, whatever the occupancy. So does the alteration logic in Section 141.0(b) — only the values change.
Building types in this section
- Title 24 requirements for office buildings
- Title 24 requirements for retail stores
- Title 24 requirements for restaurants
- Title 24 requirements for commercial kitchens
- Title 24 requirements for warehouses
- Title 24 requirements for grocery stores
- Title 24 requirements for hotels and motels
- Title 24 requirements for schools
- Title 24 requirements for medical offices
- Title 24 requirements for industrial buildings
- Title 24 requirements for laboratories
- Title 24 requirements for mixed-use buildings
Mixed-use is its own problem
A building containing both dwelling units and nonresidential space is assessed under two different sets of standards at once — the multifamily subchapters for the residential portion and the nonresidential requirements for the rest. That is a documentation question as much as a design one, and it is the case most often got wrong.