California Energy Commission Offers JA8 Markings Guidance

In California, Title 24, the Building Energy Efficiency Standards, are updated every three years by the California Energy Commission (CEC). The 2019 version was recently completed and is slated to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020.

During the 2018 ALA Engineering and Technology Committee meeting, a question was raised concerning a provision from the previous version (2016) about the new marking requirements for lighting products: Will products marked JA8-2016 be permitted for sale once the 2019 standards take effect?

Hoping to alleviate industry concerns, CEC officials recently provided guidance as to what will be acceptable moving forward. CEC has confirmed that the requirements for JA8 did not increase; therefore products that are marked JA8-2016 will remain acceptable when the 2019 standards take effect. Simply put, products will not need to be re-marked and products that remain in stock at year’s end will still be allowed for new residential construction.

To avoid confusion, CEC did suggest switching to the 2019 marking when the regulations become effective, in particular for products tested using the 2019 test procedures.