TVs’ Criteria Proposed For Energy Star ‘Top Tier’ Program

The EPA last week released standards for recognizing the “most efficient” products under a “Top Tier” program that it’s piloting as an extension of the Energy Star brand. TVs, clothes washers, heating and cooling equipment and refrigerator-freezers will be eligible this year for recognition as “most efficient” in their product categories on a “pilot basis,” said Ann Bailey, director of Energy Star product labeling. “The goal of this new effort … is to drive more energy efficient products into the market more quickly,” she said.

Among eligibility criteria common to all products for the new program is that they should provide “truly exceptional efficiency performance.” Energy Star products recognized as “most efficient” must “represent more than an incremental improvement in energy efficiency,” Bailey said. “They must demonstrate efficiency performance that is truly exceptional, inspirational, or leading edge.”

Promoting efficiency shouldn’t result in compromising performance, Bailey said. “Recognition criteria must reflect products that perform as well as or better than standard products in the market.” The new program’s goal isn’t to ensure that there are “most efficient” models in all configurations or sizes,” she said. So the “recognition criteria may be established at levels where extra-large products or those with energy-intensive configurations are unable to achieve recognition."

The EPA will later this year consider including more product categories for 2012 recognition in the Top Tier program, Bailey said. In addition to meeting general and product-specific “most efficient” program standards, products must be Energy Star qualified and certified by an EPA-recognized certification body, she said. The agency will take stakeholder comments on the proposed criteria until April 6 at mostefficient@energystar.gov, she said.