energy star

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced the start of this year’s Energy Star Battle of Buildings. The competition theme this year is “Team Challenge,” and focuses on five or more buildings working together as a team to reduce their energy use collectively as much as possible throughout the year.

ENERGY STAR has created a completely new system of requirements and procedures for qualifying energy-efficient products. Navigating the new routes to qualification can be a challenge, given the multiplicity of newly defined requirements for testing, certification and verification. What are Recognized Laboratories, Certification Bodies and Accreditation Bodies? What roles do they play in the process? Can manufacturers still perform their own product testing for qualification? This article will chart the landscape and describe how to choose the fastest and most economical route through EPA’s Enhanced Testing and Verification Program.