CEA Says Concerns Remain Over Proposed Changes to Energy Star

The EPA is hosting a webinar March 26 to discuss with stakeholders proposed “enhancements” to requirements for Energy Star testing and verification. New testing and verification requirements and other changes proposed to the Energy Star program under a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Energy have caused concern in the CE industry. Despite a recent meeting with EPA officials to “review concerns and suggestions,” there are “still remaining concerns about imposing new requirements where none are apparently justified,” said Douglas Johnson, CEA senior director of technology policy.

One of the key issues is the proposal to require that testing for Energy Star qualification and verification be done in an accredited lab, Johnson said. That change is neither “justified nor necessary” because self-certification is working well for the CE industry, he said. Because of some problems with Energy Star compliance for some categories of products, Congress became interested in the issue last year, resulting in language in climate change legislation that called for third-party certification.

Although the EPA proposal isn’t as onerous as third-party certification, it’s “still a cost and time-to-market issue” for the CE industry, where self-certification has worked well, Johnson said. “So we are talking about imposing requirements that don’t appear to be justified based on the track record.” Other CEA concerns over proposed changes to the program include a proposal to have a top-tier “Super Star” category within Energy Star.

The forthcoming webinar on testing and verification will cover all product categories but will also address some of the “key concerns” the CEA raised at a Feb. 22 meeting, said Katharine Kaplan, EPA acting assistant administrator for energy. The agency will later run product-specific stakeholder processes on the issue, she said, including one for electronics, “where we'll have more discussion and frame a qualification and verification program that meets the needs of the integrity of the program and also is sensitive to the uniqueness of that industry."

Best Buy believes that unless TV makers are allowed to use their own labs for initial qualification testing, not many of them will participate in Energy Star, the retailer said in comments. “Third-party testing is not only expensive but also time consuming, as it extends the product development timeframe.” Manufacturer labs could be accredited through a “qualification process,” the company said. The EPA must ensure that testing procedures are harmonized if different organizations are responsible for conducting verification testing, it said.

Underwriters Laboratories supports third-party testing by ISO 17025-compliant labs for all Energy Star programs, it said. UL recently started UL Environment, a certification and testing program for the CE and high-tech industries. UL said it “believes that this will improve initial product quality, particularly in regions of the globe that are not currently familiar with specific Energy Star test requirements.”