NFRC Spring Meeting Held in Nashville; Karney Speaks on ENERGY STAR ® Criteria Revisions

The National Fenestration Rating Council's (NFRC) met earlier this week at the Loews Vanderbilt Hotel in Nashville, Tenn.

During the meeting, Richard Karney with the Department of Energy (DOE) provided a progress report on the DOE’s upcoming changes to the criteria for ENERGY STAR ® -qualified doors and windows. The update was part of the Regulatory Affairs and Marketing Committee meeting.

According to Karney, the DOE currently is evaluating the technology, market, costs and energy-savings data and the earliest effective date of the new criteria will be April 2009. Some of the guiding principles in changing the ENERGY STAR criteria included significant energy savings, cost effectiveness, measurable energy savings and a meaningful differentiation.

Karney explained that one reason they needed to change the criteria is the fact that in some areas codes have superseded ENERGY STAR, and that ENERGY STAR performance needs to be above that of the codes. He also added that ENERGY STAR now has 53-percent market share.

"That number is too high for the label to have meaning in the marketplace," said Karney.

Also as part of the presentation, Karney shared some common misconceptions about ENERGY STAR. For example, one misconception is that ENERGY STAR is a "seal of approval" that identifies all reasonably efficient products. The truth, explained Karney, is that ENERGY STAR is intended to distinguish the most efficient products. Another misconception is that lowering market share will impede rather than accelerate ENERGY STAR energy savings. According to Karney, sales of ENERGY STAR-labeled products may decline, but aggressive performance levels will increase.

Karney also shared a few other elements under consideration, including separate ENERGY STAR criteria for doors, air leakage requirements and a longer transition period between old and new criteria.

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