Energy compliance without the resubmittal loop

The energy package is a design tool, not a form

Treated as paperwork, energy compliance is a loop of failed forms and resubmittals. Treated as design, it is the cheapest optimization a project ever gets: the model shows where the building loses its energy budget — glass, envelope, lighting, mechanical — while those are still lines on a screen. Torch runs compliance as part of the design, coordinated with the mechanical and electrical teams whose choices the model grades.

Scope and deliverables

· Whole-building energy modeling for performance-path compliance and design decisions
· Title 24 documentation for California projects, and IECC compliance for the states that adopt it
· COMcheck and REScheck certificates and supporting documentation for prescriptive-path projects
· ASHRAE 90.1 compliance support, including the trade-off analyses the standard allows
· Envelope, lighting, and mechanical compliance coordination — the model and the drawings kept in agreement, which is where most energy submittals actually fail

Deliverables are the compliance package your jurisdiction requires — models, forms, and supporting calculations — prepared by the engineering team and sealed through Apex Grid Engineering's licensed Professional Engineers where a seal is required.

Where the work concentrates

Commercial projects in jurisdictions that enforce current energy codes strictly. California work under Title 24. Projects whose designs miss prescriptive limits and need the performance path to survive — glass-heavy buildings, unusual occupancies, mixed-use. State coverage starts with energy modeling in Arizona. Our answers library explains why commercial projects need energy modeling in the first place.

How the work gets coordinated

An energy model is only as honest as the drawings behind it, and most failed energy submittals fail on disagreement — the model assumes one lighting package, the electrical set draws another; the envelope in the model is not the envelope in the details. Torch keeps the model and the documents in the same office and reconciles them before submittal: what the model claims, the drawings show; what the drawings show, the model grades. That single discipline removes the most common resubmittal cause in energy review.

Common questions

When is energy modeling required?

When the project takes the performance path — because the design trades prescriptive limits against each other — or when the jurisdiction requires modeled compliance for the building type and size. Even when a prescriptive path is available, a model is often the fastest way to prove a borderline design passes.

What is the difference between COMcheck and full energy modeling?

COMcheck verifies a building against prescriptive and trade-off requirements component by component — envelope, lighting, mechanical. A whole-building model simulates the building's energy use over a year and compares it against a code baseline. COMcheck is a checklist with arithmetic; modeling is a simulation. The project and the jurisdiction decide which one the submittal needs.

Who prepares and stamps the energy documents?

The compliance package is prepared by Torch's engineering team, coordinated with the disciplines it grades. Where a seal is required, all PE stamping is backed by Apex Grid Engineering's licensed Professional Engineers. Torch does not present itself as the licensed entity.