Notice is hereby given that the following changes have been made to the proposed rule in accordance with subparagraph 120.54(3)(d)1., F.S., published in Vol. 34 No. 31, August 1, 2008 issue of the Florida Administrative Weekly.

The Commission voted to further modify the proposed reference document building on the change published in Vol. 34, No. 31, August 1, 2008 issue of the Florida Administrative Weekly, realigning criteria of Chapter 13 of the Florida Building Code, Building, and Chapter 11 of the Florida Building Code, Residential, to fit within the revised code structure created by the Commission at its May, 2008, meeting in its effort to make the energy code provisions 15 percent more stringent than the energy provisions previously in effect.

Changes include the following:

1. The commercial building compliance method B was expanded to cover building renovations, replacement of mechanical building systems, change of occupancy type for older buildings, shell buildings at first permit, and limited and special use buildings. Also, a new Form 400B-08 was adopted for this method.

2. Changes such as adding omitted references to appendices, adding omitted scoping criteria, options and figures from the 2004 code, fixing minimum duct R-values on tables, fixing a gas water heater minimum to reflect the national standard, making definitions and code text internally consistent, incorporating a code clarification into the code and general cleanup are made to resolve conflicts within the updated code.

3. Updates were made to the computer programs EnergyGauge Summit Fla/Com and EnergyGauge USA Fla/Res (2008) to make them 15 percent more stringent than the 2007 code and to add or delete provisions to make them consistent with relevant energy provisions of the Florida Building Code.

9B-13.0041 Thermal Efficiency Standards Adopted.

Proposed Effective Date March 1, 2009 ~~December 31, 2008~~.

(1) The Florida Energy Efficiency Code for Building Construction, 2007 Edition (the Code), is hereby adopted by reference. The Florida Building Commission shall revise, update and maintain the Code.

(2) A copy of the above referenced Code as amended has been filed with these rules with the Secretary of State. The Code is also available for reference and inspection at the Department offices in Tallahassee, Division of Housing and Community Development, 2555 Shumard Oak Blvd., Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2100.

Specific Authority 553.901 FS. Law Implemented 553.901, 553.903 FS. History–New 12-10-96, Amended 10-19-97, 1-19-98, 12-27-98, 9-12-00, 3-1-09 ~~12-31-08~~.