Scope
The Vermont Department of Public Service adopted amendments to the Commercial Building Energy Standards, signed April 10, 2026, with a coversheet effective date of July 14, 2026, under 30 V.S.A. section 53. The adopted text defines a data center as a room or series of rooms that share data center systems, whose primary function is to house equipment for the processing and storage of electronic data, and that has a design information-technology equipment power density exceeding 20 watts per square foot of conditioned area and a total design information-technology equipment load greater than 10 kW. A computer room is the category at or below either of those thresholds. On the 2024 pathway, data center systems must comply with Sections 6 and 8 of ASHRAE 90.4, with these substitutions for climate zone 6A: the maximum design mechanical load component at 100 percent and at 50 percent information-technology load is 0.22, and the maximum annualized mechanical load component is 0.17. Data center systems are exempt from Sections C403.4 and C403.5. Transformers, uninterruptible power supplies, motors, and electrical power processing equipment in data center systems must also comply with Section 8 of ASHRAE 90.4. A commercial project may instead meet the 2020 commercial standards. The rule applies to new commercial buildings, new portions, and new systems, not to every existing room and not to farm structures. It is not a siting rule, a utility rate class, or the vetoed Sustainable Data Centers Act.
- Geographic scope
- Vermont
- Jurisdiction
- State
- Authority type
- Government agency
- Issuing authority
- Vermont Department of Public Service
Dates
- Adopted
- 10 April 2026
- Effective
- 14 July 2026
- Scheduled expiration
- See completion condition
- Ended
- Not recorded as ended
- Completion condition
- The adopted filing states no expiration.
- Source document
- 10 April 2026
- Last checked
- 24 September 2026 (earlier than tracker date 5 October 2026; not an automatic status change)
Summary
Vermont's commercial building energy standards amendments, effective July 14, 2026, define a data center as a room above 20 watts per square foot and 10 kW of information-technology load and, on the 2024 pathway, require those systems to meet ASHRAE 90.4 with stated climate-zone substitutions. A project may comply through the 2020 standards instead. The rule does not enact the vetoed Sustainable Data Centers Act and does not set a utility rate class.
What this does not establish
- The definition covers rooms that exceed both 20 watts per square foot and 10 kW. A room at or below either threshold is a computer room in the same text, not a data center.
- The standards apply to new commercial buildings, new portions, and new systems and equipment. They do not apply to farm structures, and they do not apply to manufacturing or industrial process equipment that the standard does not identify.
- A project may meet the 2020 commercial standards instead of the 2024 pathway. The 2020 book was not opened, so this record does not say that book uses the words data center.
- The climate-zone figures printed here are the mechanical-load substitutions for zone 6A. They are not a complete restatement of ASHRAE 90.4.
- H.727 was vetoed on May 28, 2026, and the veto was sustained on May 29, 2026. This energy-code rule is a different instrument.
Unresolved questions
- Whether the 2020 commercial standards, which remain an alternative compliance path, use the words data center.
Relationships
Supersession means a later instrument replaces the earlier legal effect. Repeal links identify the repeal instrument and the measure it ends. A later implementation or related letter is not treated as a replacement unless the record says so.
- Related, not a replacement H.727 sustainable data centers bill, veto sustained (Vetoed)
Sources
https://publicservice.vermont.gov/sites/dps/files/documents/04.10.26%20-%20DPS%20Adopted%20Rule%20Filing%20-%20Vermont%20Commercial%20Building%20Energy%20Standards%20Amendments.pdf
- 30 V.S.A. section 53 statute authorizing commercial building energy standards; the opened section does not define a data center