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Verification of a home’s energy efficiency by a third-party organization is mandatory for earning the ENERGY STAR label. There are two paths to verifying that a home meets the ENERGY STAR guidelines¹:
- The National Performance Path
(99KB), where software is used to model the home’s energy use to verify that it meets a target score. - The National Prescriptive Path (131KB), where builders construct the home using a prescribed set of construction specifications that meet program requirements.
A Sampling Protocol is available for production builders who have demonstrated their ability to consistently meet the ENERGY STAR guidelines. It is intended to minimize production interruptions and verification costs for builders, while ensuring that homes meet or exceed the guidelines for qualifying homes as ENERGY STAR.
ENERGY STAR qualified manufactured homes utilize a different verification process than site-built homes.
EPA has new a new policy for qualifying attached housing units as ENERGY STAR.
1 Note: Due to the unique nature of some state codes, EPA has established regionally specific guidelines for ENERGY STAR qualified homes in California, Hawaii, and the Pacific Northwest.
