ORS 469.275: Definitions for ORS 469.275 to 469.291.
Edition: 2025 EditionEffective: 2026-01-01Last verified: 2026-09-07
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 building’s energy load. (6) “Energy use intensity” means a measurement that weather normalizes a building’s site energy use relative to the building’s size, calculated by dividing the total net energy the building consumes in one year by the building’s 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 building’s 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 building’s energy use intensity in a specific year to account for deviations from the building’s 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]
Official history and status
History: Note: 469.275 to 469.291 were enacted into law by the Legislative Assembly but were not added to or made a part of ORS chapter 469 or any series therein by legislative action. See Preface to Oregon Revised Statutes for further explanation.
Administrative rules citing this section
- OAR 330-300-0000: Purpose and applicability — implements
- OAR 330-300-0000: Purpose and applicability — authority
- OAR 330-300-0010: Oregon Energy Efficiency Standards for Existing Buildings — implements
- OAR 330-300-0010: Oregon Energy Efficiency Standards for Existing Buildings — authority
- OAR 330-300-0100: Purpose: Building Performance Standards Incentive Program — implements
- OAR 330-300-0100: Purpose: Building Performance Standards Incentive Program — authority
- OAR 330-300-0110: Incentive Program Definitions Applicable to 330-300-0100 through 330-300-0170 — implements
- OAR 330-300-0110: Incentive Program Definitions Applicable to 330-300-0100 through 330-300-0170 — authority
- OAR 330-300-0120: Covered Commercial Building Eligibility — implements
- OAR 330-300-0120: Covered Commercial Building Eligibility — authority
- OAR 330-300-0130: Incentive Amounts — implements
- OAR 330-300-0130: Incentive Amounts — authority
- OAR 330-300-0140: Incentive Application Process — implements
- OAR 330-300-0140: Incentive Application Process — authority
- OAR 330-300-0150: Incentive Program Application Review — implements
- OAR 330-300-0150: Incentive Program Application Review — authority
- OAR 330-300-0160: Incentive Payment Process — implements
- OAR 330-300-0160: Incentive Payment Process — authority
- OAR 330-300-0170: Incentive Program Compliance — implements
- OAR 330-300-0170: Incentive Program Compliance — authority
This rule cites
- ORS 469.275 — resolved
- 469.291 — resolved
- ORS chapter 476 — target_record_not_published
- ORS 469.277 — resolved
Cited by
- ORS 276.915: Energy design requirements; rules; fees; waiver.
- ORS 469.277: Department adoption of performance standards; enforcement; rules.
- ORS 469.279: Tier 1 buildings report; exemptions; department support program; correction notice; civil penalties.
- ORS 469.281: Implementation; enforcement; advisory committee; rules.
- ORS 469.283: County assessors to provide information to department.
- ORS 469.285: When action to comply not required; incentives for voluntary or early compliance.
- ORS 469.289: Contracting to administer incentive payments for early compliance.
- ORS 469.291: Incentive program for early and voluntary implementation of standards; application process; rules.
- OAR 330-300-0150: Incentive Program Application Review
Official source: https://www.oregonlegislature.gov/bills_laws/ors/ors469.html