Title 24 Reports in Inyo County

West: the Owens Valley is zone 16

Six of the nine ZIP codes we derive for Inyo County are zone 16, and they follow the Owens Valley under the eastern face of the Sierra: Big Pine, Independence, Lone Pine, then Olancha and Cartago at the south end of Owens Lake. Keeler on the lake's far shore and Darwin beyond it are zone 16 as well.

That makes heating the centre of every Owens Valley report, from Big Pine down to the lake.

East: Death Valley is zone 14, not zone 15

Across the ranges to the east, the other three ZIP codes are zone 14 — 92328 for Death Valley and Furnace Creek, and the two serving Shoshone and Tecopa near the Nevada line. Many people would expect Death Valley to share the low-desert zone 15 with the Imperial and Coachella valleys. The Energy Commission's table says 14, and the table is what a report is written against.

Bishop, and a ZIP code that leans north

On the Department of Finance's 2026 estimates Bishop is the county's only incorporated city. Its ZIP code, 93514, reaches north across the county line to take in Chalfant, and measured by land Mono County holds 56 per cent of it to Inyo's 44 — so a land-area count files it under Mono, and it is absent from Inyo's nine.

Land is not population, and Bishop itself sits on the Inyo side. For the report the distinction is harmless, since 93514 is zone 16 like the rest of the valley. For the permit it is not: inside Bishop's limits the city issues it, on unincorporated Inyo land the county does, and north of the county line Mono County takes over.

Two deserts, two target sets

The Owens Valley and Death Valley are both arid, yet their compliance targets differ: zone 16 is weighted heavily toward heating, zone 14 toward a genuine balance of heating and cooling. A plan drawn for Lone Pine needs its own calculation before it can be built at Furnace Creek.

Every ZIP code by zone

Zones per the Energy Commission; county membership and community names per the 2020 Census.

• Climate zone 14 — 92328 (Furnace Creek, Homewood Canyon, Valley Wells); 92384 (Shoshone); 92389 (Tecopa)
• Climate zone 16 — 93513 (Big Pine); 93522 (Darwin); 93526 (Independence); 93530 (Keeler); 93545 (Lone Pine); 93549 (Olancha, Cartago)

No ZIP code here is split

Inyo's nine are wholly its own by Census land area; the one notable absentee, Bishop's 93514, is explained above.

Finding the zone for your own project

The zone is set by the project's location and confirmed from the ZIP code against the Energy Commission's published table — not from the county name and not from the nearest large town. Because Inyo County contains more than one zone, that check decides which set of numbers a report is written against.

Give us the project address and we determine the zone as part of preparing the report. It is the first thing established, because every insulation, glazing and equipment figure downstream depends on it.

Climate zones in Inyo County

Inyo County contains California climate zones 14 and 16. The zone drives the insulation, glazing and equipment performance a report has to demonstrate, and it is confirmed from the project ZIP code against the Energy Commission's published table.