ORS Chapter 469 — Energy; Conservation

ORS 469.275. Definitions for ORS 469.275 to 469.291. As used in ORS 469.275 to 469.291: (1)(a) Agricultural building means a structure that is used for: (A) Storing, maintaining or repairing farm or forestry machinery and equipment; (B) Raising, harvesting and selling crops or forest products; (C) Feeding, breeding, managing and selling livestock, poultry, fur-bearing animals or honeybees or the produce of livestock, poultry, fur-bearing animals or honeybees; (D) Dairying and selling dairy products; or (E) Any other agricultural, forestry or horticultural use or animal husbandry, or any combination of agricultural, horticultural or animal husbandry uses, including preparing and storing produce raised on the farm for human use and animal use, preparing, processing and storing agricultural and forestry products and goods and disposing, by marketing or otherwise, of farm produce or forest products. (b) Agricultural building does not include: (A) A dwelling; (B) A structure used for a purpose other than growing plants in which 10 or more persons are present at any one time; (C) A structure regulated by the State Fire Marshal pursuant to ORS chapter 476; (D) A structure used by the public; or (E) A structure that is subject to the National Flood Insurance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C 4001 to 4127), as amended, and regulations promulgated under that Act. (2) Conditional compliance means a temporary method that a building owner can use to demonstrate that the building owner has implemented required energy use reduction strategies when the building owner cannot demonstrate full compliance with a required energy use intensity target. (3) Covered commercial building means a tier 1 building or a tier 2 building. (4) Eligible building owner means: (a) An owner of a tier 1 building that must comply with the standard established in ORS 469.277; or (b) An owner of a tier 2 building. (5) Energy means: (a) Electricity, including electricity that is delivered through the electric grid and electricity that is generated at a building site using solar or wind energy resources; (b) Natural gas; (c) Steam, hot water or chilled water used for heating or cooling; (d) Propane; (e) Fuel oil; (f) Wood; (g) Coal; or (h) Any other fuel that meets a covered commercial buildings energy load. (6) Energy use intensity means a measurement that weather normalizes a buildings site energy use relative to the buildings size, calculated by dividing the total net energy the building consumes in one year by the buildings gross floor area, excluding any parking garage, and that is reported in thousands of British thermal units per square foot per year. (7) Energy use intensity target means a net energy use intensity that complies with the standard set forth in ORS 469.277. (8) Greenhouse gas has the meaning given that term in ORS 468A.210. (9)(a) Gross floor area means the total number of square feet of a building, measured from the exterior surfaces of a buildings fixed enclosing walls, including all floor space used as offices, lobbies, restrooms, equipment storage areas, mechanical rooms, break rooms and elevator shafts. (b) Gross floor area does not include bays or docks outside the building. (10) Net energy use means the sum of metered and bulk fuel energy that enters a building, minus the sum of metered energy that leaves the building. (11) Savings to investment ratio means the ratio of the total present value of savings to the total present value of costs to implement an energy conservation measure or water conservation measure, in which the numerator of the ratio is the present value of net savings in energy or water or in maintenance costs not related to fuel use or water use that are attributable to the energy conservation measure or water conservation measure and the denominator of the ratio is the present value of the net increase in investment and replacement costs, less the salvage value, of the energy conservation or water conservation measure. (12) Semiheated space means an enclosed space within a covered commercial building that is heated by a heating system with an output the Department of Consumer and Business Services specifies in an applicable specialty code. (13) Tier 1 building means a building in which the sum of gross floor area for hotel, motel and nonresidential use equals or exceeds 35,000 square feet, excluding any parking garage. (14)(a) Tier 2 building means: (A) A building with gross floor area, excluding any parking garage, that equals or exceeds 35,000 square feet and that is used as a multifamily residential building, a hospital, a school, a dormitory or a university building; or (B) A building in which the sum of gross floor area for hotel, motel and nonresidential use exceeds 20,000 square feet but does not exceed 35,000 square feet, excluding any parking garage. (b) Tier 2 building does not include a covered commercial building that is classified as a tier 1 building. (15) Unconditioned space means an enclosed space within a covered commercial building that is not: (a) Heated by a heating system or cooled by a cooling system with output capacities the Department of Consumer and Business Services specifies in an applicable specialty code; or (b) Indirectly heated or cooled in accordance with standards the department specifies in an applicable specialty code. (16) Weather normalized means a method for modifying a buildings energy use intensity in a specific year to account for deviations from the buildings energy use intensity as the energy use intensity ordinarily occurs during a year in which the weather does not fluctuate substantially or vary as a consequence of extreme weather events. [2023 c.442 8] Note: