Prince George's County, MD Building Safety: Green Building Code (2026)

Subtitle 4's amendments to the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code (Commercial) tighten several numeric thresholds beyond the base IECC. 35, cutting how much solar heat new commercial glazing can admit. Section 4-258 requires occupant sensor controls, not plain light switches, in every classroom, conference or meeting room, employee lunch or break room, private office, restroom, storage room, janitorial closet, enclosed stairway, and any other space of 300 square feet or less enclosed by floor-to-ceiling partitions; those sensors must cut the lights within 30 minutes of the last occupant leaving and can bring lighting back on to no more than 50 percent power.

A related amendment, Section 4-259, requires parking-area lighting controls to cut power density by 30 percent after 15 minutes of non-activity. 50 watts per square foot of conditioned floor area, or generate at least 5 percent of the energy the building's regulated mechanical, service water heating, and lighting systems consume. These sections were added by CB-45-2012, with the lighting-control provisions further amended by CB-90-2015, folding successive IECC commercial-energy updates directly into the county's own Subtitle 4 rather than leaving the state model code to control unmodified.