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Requirements & Resources for HVAC Designers

For a home to be ENERGY STAR certified, several key design tasks must be completed by an HVAC designer. These requirements are contained in the HVAC Design Report, and include designing a whole-house ventilation system, calculating room-by-room heating and cooling loads, selecting heating and cooling equipment using those loads, and designing a duct system for the selected equipment. Visit the ENERGY STAR Certified Homes Program Requirements page to download the HVAC Design Report and visit the ENERGY STAR Certified Homes Policy Changes and Clarifications page to learn more about recent program changes. The resources below will help you complete these tasks.

Resources

HVAC and ENERGY STAR Certified Homes Power Point Presentation (16MB, 6min.)

This short recorded presentation was created for HVAC contractors and explains how to become credentialed to work with ENERGY STAR. The presentation also explains how HVAC design, installation and performance are incorporated into the ENERGY STAR program.

HVAC Grouping Assistant Excel (119KB)

The system design as documented on the HVAC Design Report must fall within certain tolerances for the home to be certified, as defined in Footnote 2 of the HVAC Design Report. This free optional Excel-based assistant helps designers to create groups of options and elevations that meet these tolerances.

County-Level Design Temperatures

To meet the requirements of the program, the outdoor design temperatures used in load calculations must not exceed specified county-level limits. Follow this link to learn more and obtain these temperature limits.