Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Meeting Attendees Hear Latest on ENERGY STAR

Richard Karney, with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), discussed ENERGY STAR program changes during the Regulatory Affairs and Marketing (RAM) Committee meeting.

Last fall, DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) under which EPA takes over management of the ENERGY STAR program, including windows.

Karney said that the MOU calls for all products to provide independent laboratory tests to verify results. However, this does not affect fenestration products because ENERGY STAR-qualified fenestration products have to be NFRC-certified, so they already fulfill the requirement for independent certification.

He noted that there will be some form of fenestration verification (i.e., a blind purchasing testing program), but the government’s goal is to minimize, or not even create, any additional burden for manufacturers. DOE, EPA, and NFRC are in talks about it.

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