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Proposed New Guidelines for ENERGY STAR Qualified New Homes

Second Comment Period Now Closed

Thank you to ENERGY STAR partners and stakeholders who submitted comments. Submissions received during the second comment period can be viewed here (789KB). EPA is in the process of reviewing those comments. The final guidelines, along with EPA's responses, will be posted during the first quarter of 2010.

EPA's Responses from First Comment Period

• EPA's Response to Stakeholder and Partner Comments from First Comment Period (479KB)*. This document contains a summary of comments received during the first comment period, along with EPA's response to each point raised and the resulting policy change, if any.

  *Recommendations to use a "full-fuel-cycle" methodology for the proposed guidelines were expressed by both the National Propane Gas Association and the American Gas Association. In EPA's response to comments, these concerns were inadvertently attributed to only the National Propane Gas Association.

• EPA's Response to RESNET Comments (75KB). In the summer of 2009, RESNET submitted feedback to EPA regarding the proposed changes. EPA reviewed this document and has prepared a detailed response to the concerns in this document.

Revised Proposed Specification and Additional Resources

• Executive Summary (55KB). This summary explains the major changes made from the previous version.
• Proposed National Program Requirements (125KB). This updated document defines both the performance and prescriptive paths to ENERGY STAR qualification for new homes.
• Inspection Checklists (162KB). One requirement of the prescriptive and performance path is compliance with these five checklists contained within this updated document: Thermal Enclosure System Rater Checklist; HVAC System Quality Installation Rater Checklist, HVAC System Quality Installation Contractor Checklist, Water Management System Rater Checklist and the Water Management System Builder Checklist.
• 2011 ENERGY STAR HERS Index Target Procedure (115KB). This document provides detailed instructions for determining the ENERGY STAR HERS Index Target, the highest HERS Index value that a home can achieve and still qualify under the performance path of the program.
• Cost and Savings (354KB). This document includes estimates of representative incremental costs and savings for the updated ENERGY STAR guidelines.

Webinars

Sam Rashkin, R.A., National Director of ENERGY STAR for Homes, will explain the evolution of ENERGY STAR for Homes and the value of the new guidelines during this 1-hour webinar.

• Wednesday, January 27, 2010; 2:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m. ET. Register.
• Watch a recorded video of the 2011 webinar from November 18.

Implementation schedule

• EPA plans to have the final ENERGY STAR 2011 guidelines posted by the first quarter of 2010.
• The ENERGY STAR 2011 guidelines will go into affect on January 1, 2011. For details, refer to the Executive Summary.

Archive

First comment period. EPA received comments (1.65MB) from partners and other stakeholders regarding the proposed 2011 specifications (582KB) and checklists (162KB). The comments are listed alphabetically by organization name.

Below are resources that were available during the first round of comments.

• ENERGY STAR 2011 FAQ (39KB) — Frequently asked questions about ENERGY STAR 2011.
• ENERGY STAR 2011 Fact Sheet (138KB) — Summary of ENERGY STAR 2011 and rationale behind the proposed changes to the ENERGY STAR qualified homes specifications.
• ENERGY STAR Homes: The Road Ahead — Presentation on the evolution of ENERGY STAR for Homes and the value of the new guidelines. At this time, the streaming modules are unavailable. You can view the presentation in five PDF files:
  • Outline & Introduction (178KB)
  • Compliance Options (243KB)
  • Mandatory Requirements (450KB)
  • Checklists (1.9MB)
  • The Road Ahead (368KB)
• Technical background (242KB) — Additional details about the rationale behind, benefits of, and estimated savings for ENERGY STAR 2011.
• ENERGY STAR 2011 Reference Design Definition (288KB) — Compares the parameters of the HERS Reference Home, HERS rated homes, and the ENERGY STAR Reference Design Home.
• Economic impacts (340KB) — Estimates of representative incremental costs and savings for ENERGY STAR 2011 and a comparison to incremental costs for the current guidelines.
• ENERGY STAR Advanced Lighting Package (2.22MB) — Learn how you can use the Advanced Lighting Package to stand out from the competition and meet the proposed ENERGY STAR 2011 guidelines for lighting.
• Notes from the EPA Q&A sessions (280KB) — Notes from the Q&A sessions held to answer questions about the proposed ENERGY STAR 2011 guidelines.

Questions

Please contact us with any questions about the proposed ENERGY STAR 2011 guidelines.