// AIA California, Working for You
Greetings from the AIA California office.
You may have heard about a recent tool AIA California published for members encountering a variety of code interpretations for electrical service and feeder loads on ADU projects.
This, of course, emanated from good news: after years of advocacy by members, ADUs have become so common across the state that the expansion of electrical service from one home to two has raised questions. The challenge is that there are different opinions about when an upgrade is needed and which calculation methods should be used depending on the project setup.
To provide some clarity and reduce time/$ firms spend figuring them out, AIA California partnered with Redwood Energy to develop a technical guide along with a live Excel-based calculator called the “ADU Electrical Service and Feeder Load Calculator.”
This technical publication assists qualified design professionals by providing the options for electrical service to ADUs, illuminates how to make the correct choices, and facilitates the use of a corresponding “live” calculator.
The guide and calculator are free to members, useful to all—but particularly helpful for small firms and sole proprietor offices with limited resources.
To access the “ADU Electrical Service and Feeder Load Calculator,” just log into The Pavilion, AIA California’s new digital platform for community, resource sharing, and program registration. (If you don’t already have a profile on The Pavilion, it’s a quick and easy process using the same link.)
Then:
- Download: ADU Electrical Service and Feeder Load Calculator: What You Need to Know HERE.
- Access the Live Calculator (an excel document) HERE
While AIA California welcomes the expansion of ADUs as a means to increase housing, we continue to champion numerous strategies to address the critical housing shortage in California. You can find a series of important California legislative bills we support to ease townhome permitting, reduce code barriers, and directly address electrical service concerns by dovetailing utilities into the permitting process, here. Legislative advocacy, building code reform, and practice tools (like the ADU Electrical Service and Feeder Load Calculator) to support design and delivery of housing – just a few more ways AIA California is Working for You.
Nicki
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Nicki Dennis Stephens, Hon. AIA, LEED Green Assoc.
Executive Vice President
The American Institute of Architects California
1931 H Street, Sacramento, CA 95811
phone: (916) 642-1707 | web: http://www.aiacalifornia.org