HCO Background Information

Since its inception, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s ENERGY STAR Residential New Construction Program has required third-party verification of homes and apartments that earn ENERGY STAR certification. In 2007, EPA developed and implemented a structure to formally recognize the independent organizations that provide oversight of the verification process and the raters that performed the inspections and testing necessary to document compliance with ENERGY STAR program requirements. These organizations were referred to as Verification Oversight Organizations (or VOOs).

In 2018, EPA began a comprehensive update of the oversight recognition structure for homes and apartments using an Energy Rating Index-based compliance path. In August 2018, EPA solicited feedback on the concept of recognizing organizations that earn accreditation through ISO/IEC 17065 “Conformity Assessment: Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes, and services.” Based on comments received, in March 2019 EPA released the resulting Verification Oversight documentation for stakeholder review. At that point, EPA changed the terminology for organizations recognized to operate an ENERGY STAR certification program from VOO to Home Certification Organization (HCO) to better reflect the organizations’ responsibility for the entire home certification process. In October, 2019, EPA released revised documentation for stakeholder review. The public comments and EPA’s responses are archived below.

On May 26, 2020, EPA published the final ENERGY STAR Certification System and ENERGY STAR Certification Protocol, which are effective immediately and available for use. Organizations wishing to operate an ENERGY STAR certification program may apply according to the instructions in the ENERGY STAR Certification System document.

On May 16, 2022, EPA announced the formal extension of HCO oversight to California, with appropriate modifications having been made to the HCO documentation. Specifically, homes and apartments certified in California using a dwelling unit modeling approach and Version 3.3 of the California Single-Family New Homes (SFNH) or Version 1.3 of the California Multifamily New Construction (MFNC) Program Requirements (or later) must be certified through an EPA-recognized HCO.

May 2022 Extension of Home Certification Organization Oversight to California and Stakeholder Feedback

On April 14, 2022, EPA solicited feedback from ENERGY STAR program stakeholders on the following draft documentation that proposed to extend the Home Certification Organization (HCO) construct to cover homes and apartments certified in California using a dwelling unit modeling approach:

EPA received comments from the following organizations and/or groups related to the HCO extension to California:

EPA thanks both organizations for their comments, which expressed support for the proposal to extend HCO oversight to California, with one adding it would be ideal if current oversight organizations in the state were integrated into this new oversight structure. EPA is working with the current oversight organizations in the state to ensure they are informed about the proposal and looks forward to approving all organizations that meet the requirements for HCOs.

October 2019 Home Certification Organization Documentation and Stakeholder Feedback

On October 15, 2019, EPA solicited feedback from ENERGY STAR program stakeholders on the following draft documentation:

EPA received comments from the following organizations and/or groups:

  • Craig Connor
  • Home Innovation Research Labs
  • Green Building Hawaii
  • National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)
  • Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET)
  • SK Collaborative
  • Tempo Partners/TexEnergy Solutions/US-EcoLogic 
  • Triconic  

EPA thanks all of the organizations and individuals who provided comments. EPA has summarized the main themes of the comments received and provided responses in Response to Comments: May 2020 Home Certification Organization (HCO) Documentation (PDF, 142 KB).

March 2019 Revised Verification Oversight Documentation and Stakeholder Feedback

On March 18, 2019, EPA solicited feedback from ENERGY STAR program stakeholders on the following draft documentation:

EPA received comments from the following organizations and/or groups:

EPA thanks all of the organizations and individuals who provided comments. EPA has summarized the main themes of the comments received and provided responses in Response to Comments: March 2019 Revised Verification Oversight Organization (VOO) Documentation (PDF, 127 KB).

August 2018 Request for Information on ISO/IEC 17065 Verification Oversight and Stakeholder Feedback

On August 10, 2018, EPA solicited feedback from ENERGY STAR program stakeholders on whether the eligibility criteria for EPA recognition as a Verification Oversight Organization (VOO) for the ENERGY STAR New Construction program should be expanded to include organizations that earn and maintain accreditation through ISO/IEC 17065 “Conformity Assessment: Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes, and services.” EPA thanks all of the organizations and individuals who provided comments and feedback in response to this Request for Information. In addition, EPA conducted additional outreach to ensure that stakeholders had their viewpoints represented and that potentially affected parties were aware of the possible changes and their potential impacts.

EPA received comments from the following organizations and/or groups:

EPA has summarized the main themes of the comments received and provided responses in Response to Comments: ISO/IEC 17065 Verification Oversight for the ENERGY STAR Certified Homes Program (PDF, 152 KB).

Residential New Construction