Lighting Fixtures and Accessories
New Era’s lighting categories include LED fixtures, outdoor lighting, specialty lighting, and incandescent bulbs. Because available products and quantities may change, customers should contact the store to confirm current stock and project requirements.
Established Electrical Brands
New Era works with trusted electrical and lighting manufacturers, including Lutron, Leviton, Eaton, Siemens, Philips, and many more.
Experienced Counter Service
New Era’s experienced counter staff can help customers:
-
Identify fixtures, lamps, drivers, dimmers, sensors, and related components.
-
Compare product specifications and available options.
-
Locate hard-to-find lighting or electrical parts.
-
Find comparable or alternative products when appropriate.
-
Identify missing specifications needed to place an order.
-
Coordinate larger lighting and electrical-supply orders.
Early Hours Accommodate Electrical Professionals
Monday–Friday: 6:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Saturday: 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Sunday: Closed
Visit New Era Electric Supply
New Era Electric Supply
1630 Flower Street
Glendale, CA 91201
Phone: 818-338-2288
Fax: 747-400-2440
Email: sales@eraesupply.com
California’s 2025 Energy Code: What Contractors Should Know About Lighting Projects
California’s 2025 Building Energy Efficiency Standards, commonly called the 2025 Energy Code, establish requirements for lighting efficiency, controls, installation, documentation, and testing in new construction, additions, and alterations. Although the standards carry the 2025 name, they took effect on January 1, 2026.
Lighting requirements vary according to the type of building and the project scope. Contractors should identify the applicable requirements before selecting fixtures, dimmers, sensors, drivers, and other lighting controls.
This guide summarizes the lighting provisions contractors are most likely to encounter and explains what to confirm before purchasing materials or beginning installation.
When Does the 2025 Energy Code Apply?
The 2025 Energy Code applies to permit applications submitted on or after January 1, 2026. It contains requirements for newly constructed buildings, additions to existing buildings, and alterations to existing buildings. Contractors should verify the applicable code edition and required compliance forms with the local authority having jurisdiction before preparing a lighting package or ordering materials.
California’s Energy Code establishes statewide minimum requirements. A city or county may also have an approved local energy ordinance, often called a reach code, that exceeds the statewide standards. Local permitting and building-safety departments should therefore be consulted for project-specific requirements.
What Changed for Lighting in the 2025 Energy Code?
The 2025 update revised and clarified several nonresidential lighting provisions. Significant changes include:
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Removal of the former table that specified multilevel control requirements according to light-source type.
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Clarification of manual control, shut-off control, control-interaction, and Power Adjustment Factor requirements.
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A revised wattage threshold for daylight-responsive controls.
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Clarification that linear luminaires longer than eight feet may need to be controlled in segments of eight feet or less when they extend across different daylight zones.
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Removal of the Tailored Method as a prescriptive method for calculating allowable indoor lighting power. The Complete Building Method and Area Category Method remain available.
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Additional lighting-power allowances for certain wall-display, floor-display, and task-lighting applications.
Contractors should use current product certifications and 2025 compliance documents rather than relying on specifications or forms prepared for an earlier code cycle.
Determine the Building Category Before Selecting Lighting
The applicable lighting rules depend on how the project is classified.
Single-Family Residential Buildings
Permanently installed lighting in single-family homes is primarily regulated by Section 150.0(k). These requirements address luminaire efficacy, JA8 certification, recessed downlights, dimming, automatic-off controls, and residential outdoor lighting.
Multifamily Buildings
Lighting inside multifamily dwelling units generally follows residential-style requirements under Section 160.5(a). Lighting in common-service areas, such as corridors, lobbies, shared laundry rooms, and other common spaces, is subject to separate multifamily provisions that more closely resemble nonresidential lighting requirements. The applicable rules may include lighting-power allowances, multilevel controls, shut-off controls, daylight-responsive controls, and acceptance testing.
Nonresidential Buildings
Commercial, industrial, institutional, hotel, motel, and other nonresidential projects are generally subject to limits on installed lighting power as well as mandatory lighting-control requirements. The exact allowance and required controls depend on the building type, space function, fixture layout, connected load, availability of daylight, and project scope.
Residential Luminaire and JA8 Requirements
The 2025 Energy Code requires permanently installed residential luminaires and light sources to comply with Reference Joint Appendix JA8 unless a listed exception applies. JA8 establishes performance requirements intended to provide efficient lighting with acceptable color quality, dimming performance, noise, and flicker characteristics. Qualifying products must be certified to the California Energy Commission and marked JA8-2025 or JA8-2025-E. The “E” marking indicates that the light source has satisfied the elevated-temperature testing required for applications such as enclosed or recessed luminaires.
Contractors should pay particular attention to recessed ceiling downlights:
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A recessed downlight may not contain a screw-base lamp socket.
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Its light source must be JA8 certified and marked JA8-2025-E.
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An integral LED source or a qualifying pin-based lamp may be used when the complete assembly satisfies the applicable requirements.
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Product certification should be verified through the California Energy Commission’s Modernized Appliance Efficiency Database System before installation.
The residential code does not establish a general wattage allowance for lighting in the same manner as the nonresidential code. However, permanently installed luminaires and light sources must still meet the applicable efficacy and JA8 requirements. JA8 light sources generally must be capable of providing a correlated color temperature of 4000 Kelvin or less, a Color Rendering Index of at least 90, and an R9 value of at least 50.
Residential Lighting-Control Requirements
Residential lighting compliance involves both the light source and the controls connected to it. The following requirements apply to many single-family and multifamily dwelling-unit projects:
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Readily accessible wall-mounted controls must provide manual on-and-off control for permanently installed lighting.
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Lighting in habitable spaces—including living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens, and bedrooms—must generally have readily accessible wall-mounted dimming controls.
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In bathrooms, garages, laundry rooms, utility rooms, and walk-in closets, at least one installed luminaire must be controlled by an occupancy or vacancy sensor that provides automatic-off functionality.
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Forward phase-cut dimmers controlling LED light sources must comply with NEMA SSL 7A.
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Lighting integrated into an exhaust fan must be controlled independently from the fan.
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Undercabinet, undershelf, and display-cabinet lighting must be controlled independently from ceiling lighting.
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Lighting inside drawers or cabinets with opaque doors or fronts must turn off when the drawer or door is closed.
Contractors should verify fixture-and-dimmer compatibility before ordering because code-compliant components can still perform poorly when they are not designed to operate together.
Residential Outdoor Lighting
Outdoor lighting permanently mounted to a single-family home or another structure on the same lot is subject to residential outdoor-lighting requirements. Residential outdoor lighting must generally have a manual on-and-off control and one of the following automatic-control arrangements:
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A photocontrol combined with a motion sensor.
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A photocontrol combined with an automatic time-switch control.
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An astronomical time-clock control.
An override that forces the automatic controls into the “on” state must return the system to automatic operation within six hours. An energy-management control system may be used when it provides the required manual, automatic, and override functions.
Outdoor LED luminaires installed in these residential applications are not required to meet JA8. Decorative landscape lighting that is not attached to a building or structure is also outside the residential lighting requirements described in Section 150.0(k), although automatic controls may still reduce unnecessary operation.
Residential Additions and Lighting Alterations
Lighting installed in a residential addition must meet the same applicable requirements as lighting in a newly constructed residential building. For an alteration, the new or altered lighting system must comply with the current requirements, while existing luminaires, controls, and lighting systems that are not altered may generally remain.
Contractors should define the altered scope clearly on the plans and fixture schedule. Replacing a fixture, modifying its internal components, relocating controls, or rewiring a lighting circuit can affect which requirements apply.
Nonresidential Indoor Lighting-Power Requirements
Nonresidential lighting designs must remain within an allowed lighting-power budget. Under the prescriptive approach, the 2025 Energy Code provides two principal methods for calculating allowable indoor lighting power.
Complete Building Method
The Complete Building Method may be used when the lighting system for the entire building is designed and permitted at one time and at least 90 percent of the building is one occupancy type. It may also apply to a tenant space when at least 90 percent of that tenant space is one occupancy type. A single lighting-power-density value is applied to the building or tenant space.
Area Category Method
The Area Category Method may be used for any permit situation, including tenant improvements. Lighting-power-density values are assigned according to each primary function area, such as offices, lobbies, corridors, retail areas, or storage spaces. Additional lighting-power allowances may be available for specific task, display, or decorative applications when the qualifying lighting is properly identified and separately controlled.
Performance Approach
The performance approach uses California Energy Commission-approved compliance software to demonstrate that the proposed building meets its overall energy budget. It may permit trade-offs between lighting and other regulated building systems, but it cannot be used for a lighting-only compliance calculation when the other affected systems are not included in the permit application.
Under any approach, the proposed adjusted indoor lighting power must not exceed the allowed lighting power. Contractors should preserve the approved fixture wattages and control strategy during purchasing and installation. A substitution with a higher input wattage or different control capability can affect the project’s compliance calculations.
Mandatory Nonresidential Indoor Lighting Controls
Nonresidential lighting controls are mandatory regardless of the method used to demonstrate compliance with the lighting-power requirements. Depending on the space and system, the required controls may include:
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Manual controls: Each space must generally have controls that allow its lighting to be manually turned on and off. General, display, decorative, and special-effects lighting may require separate controls.
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Multilevel controls: General lighting in a space of at least 100 square feet with a connected general-lighting load greater than 0.5 watts per square foot must generally provide continuous dimming from full output to 10 percent or lower. Exceptions include certain single-luminaire spaces, restrooms, healthcare facilities, and qualifying HID or induction systems.
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Automatic shut-off controls: Indoor lighting must be capable of turning off or reducing output when the space is typically unoccupied. Compliant methods can include occupant sensors with a time delay of no more than 20 minutes, automatic time-switch controls, or another qualifying automatic shut-off system.
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Occupant-sensing controls: Offices of 250 square feet or less, classrooms, conference rooms, restrooms, and multipurpose rooms smaller than 1,000 square feet must generally use occupant-sensing controls that turn the lighting off within 20 minutes after the control zone becomes vacant.
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Warehouse and circulation-area controls: Lighting in warehouse aisles and open areas, certain library stack aisles, stairwells, and corridors must generally reduce lighting power by at least 50 percent when those spaces are unoccupied, subject to the applicable exceptions.
Control zones, sensor coverage, time delays, dimming ranges, and interaction between multiple control systems should be coordinated during design. Installing a sensor after the fixtures have been selected may not resolve a fixture, driver, or dimming-protocol incompatibility.
Daylight-Responsive and Demand-Responsive Controls
The 2025 Energy Code requires daylight-responsive controls for general lighting in qualifying skylit, primary sidelit, and secondary sidelit zones when the installed general-lighting wattage in the applicable zone is 75 watts or greater. Daylit zones must be identified on the building plans and separately controlled as required.
When long linear luminaires cross more than one daylight zone, their controllable segments may need to be limited to eight feet or less so that each segment responds to the correct zone. The control system must be capable of reducing electric-light output as daylight increases while maintaining the required operation of the lighting system.
Demand-responsive lighting controls apply to buildings with at least 4,000 watts of nonresidential general lighting that is subject to the multilevel-control requirements. The controls must be capable of automatically reducing total lighting power by at least 15 percent in response to a demand-response signal. Lighting that cannot be reduced because of a health or life-safety requirement is excluded from the requirement and the threshold calculation.
Nonresidential Outdoor Lighting
Nonresidential outdoor lighting requirements apply to installations such as parking lots, building entrances, walkways, outdoor sales areas, service-station canopies, loading areas, and building façades. Compliance includes maximum lighting-power allowances, controls, and applicable shielding requirements.
Outdoor lighting-power allowances are based partly on the project’s designated lighting zone. The statewide system ranges from LZ0, intended for very dark undeveloped areas, through LZ4, intended for areas with high-intensity nighttime activity. Local jurisdictions may adjust a property’s lighting-zone designation, so contractors should confirm the applicable zone before finalizing fixture quantities and wattages.
Important outdoor requirements include:
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Outdoor luminaires emitting 6,200 initial lumens or more must generally comply with applicable backlight, uplight, and glare requirements.
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Outdoor lighting must have a control that turns it off when daylight is available.
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Installed outdoor lighting must generally be controlled by an automatic scheduling control capable of reducing lighting power by 50 to 90 percent and separately turning the lighting off when it is not needed.
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Outdoor luminaires rated above 40 watts and mounted 24 feet or less above the ground require motion-sensing controls for specified applications, including general hardscape, parking-lot, outdoor sales-lot, and vehicle-service lighting.
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Where required, motion controls must be capable of reducing lighting power by 50 to 90 percent, separately turning the luminaire off, and responding within 15 minutes after vacancy is detected.
Exceptions apply to certain applications, fixture wattages, mounting heights, and lighting required for health or life safety. Outdoor scheduling and motion-control systems may also require acceptance testing.
Nonresidential Lighting Alterations
The requirements for a nonresidential lighting alteration depend on how much of the existing system is changed and which compliance option is used. When 10 percent or more of the luminaires serving an enclosed space are altered, the project generally enters the indoor-lighting alteration requirements of Section 141.0(b)2I.
The 2025 Nonresidential Compliance Manual describes three compliance options. Under the first option, the altered lighting must meet the applicable lighting-power limits and mandatory control requirements, including manual, multilevel, automatic shut-off, daylight-responsive, and demand-responsive controls where required. The other options allow reduced control requirements when the project achieves the specified reduction in lighting power.
For qualifying one-for-one luminaire alterations within a building or tenant space of 5,000 square feet or less, one compliance path requires at least a 40 percent reduction in installed lighting power. Under that path, manual controls and automatic shut-off controls remain mandatory.
Alterations must not disable or remove required functions from existing controls that are not otherwise being replaced. New or completely replaced lighting circuits must meet the applicable control-separation requirements. Acceptance testing is not required for an alteration when added lighting controls serve 20 or fewer luminaires for the entire alteration project; larger or more complex control scopes may trigger testing.
Contractor Lighting-Supply Checklist
Before ordering lighting fixtures and controls for a regulated project, confirm the following information:
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Permit date and code edition: Determine whether the project is governed by the 2025 Energy Code and whether a local reach code applies.
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Building and space classification: Identify whether each area is a single-family dwelling, multifamily dwelling unit, multifamily common area, nonresidential space, or outdoor application.
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Approved fixture schedule: Confirm manufacturer, model number, maximum input wattage, voltage, mounting type, dimensions, lumen output, color temperature, CRI, distribution, and location rating.
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Residential certification: Verify required JA8-2025 or JA8-2025-E markings and confirm the product appears in the California Energy Commission database.
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Lighting-power allowance: For nonresidential work, verify that substitutions will not cause adjusted lighting power to exceed the approved allowance.
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Control strategy: Confirm manual controls, dimming range, automatic shut-off, occupant sensing, daylight response, demand response, scheduling, and outdoor photocontrol requirements.
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Component compatibility: Match the fixture, LED driver, dimmer, sensor, relay, and control protocol. Confirm whether the system uses phase-cut, 0–10V, digital, wireless, or another control method.
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Outdoor requirements: Confirm the lighting zone, initial lumen output, BUG rating, mounting height, fixture wattage, and environmental rating.
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Compliance documentation: Identify the certificates and acceptance tests required before ordering or installing the system.
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Order coordination: For large projects, confirm quantities, lead times, acceptable substitutions, spare fixtures, and phased-delivery requirements in advance.
Early coordination between the designer, electrical contractor, controls contractor, supplier, acceptance test technician, and local enforcement agency can reduce incompatible substitutions and help prevent delays at inspection.
NEW ERA ELECTRIC SUPPLY: Your Source for Lighting and Electrical Project Essentials
New Era Electric Supply can help contractors, builders, businesses, and property owners locate the lighting fixtures, controls, electrical components, wiring, tools, and related supplies required for residential, commercial, industrial, and maintenance projects. The Glendale warehouse serves the Greater Los Angeles area with early business hours, experienced counter assistance, and support for larger or more complex orders.
Lighting Fixtures and Accessories
New Era’s lighting categories include LED fixtures, outdoor lighting, specialty lighting, and incandescent bulbs. Because available products and quantities may change, customers should contact the store to confirm current stock and project requirements.
Established Electrical Brands
New Era works with trusted electrical and lighting manufacturers, including Lutron, Leviton, Eaton, Siemens, Philips, and many more.
Experienced Counter Service
New Era’s experienced counter staff can help customers:
-
Identify fixtures, lamps, drivers, dimmers, sensors, and related components.
-
Compare product specifications and available options.
-
Locate hard-to-find lighting or electrical parts.
-
Find comparable or alternative products when appropriate.
-
Identify missing specifications needed to place an order.
-
Coordinate larger lighting and electrical-supply orders.
Early Hours Accommodate Electrical Professionals
Monday–Friday: 6:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Saturday: 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Sunday: Closed
Visit New Era Electric Supply
New Era Electric Supply
1630 Flower Street
Glendale, CA 91201
Phone: 818-338-2288
Fax: 747-400-2440
Email: sales@eraesupply.com
Disclaimer
The information in this guide is adapted from California Energy Commission materials and is provided for general reference only. Energy Code provisions, compliance forms, local ordinances, product certifications, interpretations, and enforcement procedures may change. Requirements also vary according to building type, project scope, occupancy, location, and the authority having jurisdiction.
Before purchasing products or beginning work, verify the current requirements for the specific project with the project designer, energy consultant, acceptance test technician, local building department, or another qualified professional. Refer to the formally adopted California Energy Code for compliance and enforcement rather than relying solely on summaries or informational resources.
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