Building energy efficiency standards have become an integral part of building codes in nearly all of the U.S. For the engineer to comply with such codes, many alternative methods exist. With respect to a specific application in the state of California, the use of life-cycle costing is required for justification of the use of electric resistance heating.

This paper presents the building code requirements and procedures that were experienced .in the energy and economic evaluations required for the life-cycle costing methods. In particular, the application is for a hotel’s guest room areas as governed by the Non-Residential Building Standards dated February 24, 1984, of the California Energy Commission. This paper presents discussions of the building code requirements and alternatives for compliance, the implications of code requirements as concerned with life-cycle costing, and a presentation of actual experiences with life cycle costing application.