ENERGY STAR
AHRI as an EPA-recognized Certification Body
As part of its effort to strengthen the ENERGY STAR® program, the Environmental Protection Agency recently named AHRI as a recognized Certification Body (CB). This development is welcome news for those companies that participate in AHRI’s certification program, because they are now part of a program that is recognized not only by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the California Energy Commission (CEC), and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), but now by the EPA as well.
This allows AHRI program participants to achieve significant savings by serving various certification needs through AHRI verification testing. AHRI certification program participants can meet EPA ENERGY STAR certification and verification requirements without any additional testing on the products they wish to have ENERGY STAR labeled.
The EPA’s ENERGY STAR program was established in 1992 to promote energy efficient products, including heating, air conditioning, water heating, and commercial refrigeration equipment.
In various categories, highly efficient products proven to meet the applicable ENERGY STAR specification are recognized by the program and bear the right to use the very well known ENERGY STAR label. These specifications are continuously updated by the EPA in collaboration with its partners and various stakeholders to ensure energy and financial saving for consumers buying ENERGY STAR products. The ENERGY STAR label signifies savings: energy and money. In general, ENERGY STAR-qualified products reduce energy costs by at least 30 percent. For more info, please visit the ENERGY STAR website.
The program has recently been going through some changes, and the certification and verification processes are now the responsibility of EPA-recognized Certification Bodies such as AHRI.
Currently, AHRI supports ENERGY STAR product categories for the following:
| EPA Product Category | Corresponding AHRI Certification Program |
|---|---|
| Boilers | Residential Boilers (RBLR) |
| Central Air Conditioners and Air Source Heat Pumps | Unitary Air Conditioner & Heat Pump Equipment (USAC/USHP) |
| Commercial Boilers | Commercial Boilers (CBLR) |
| Commercial Ice Machines | Automatic Commercial Ice-Makers (ACIM) |
| Commercial Refrigerators and Freezers | Commercial Refrigerated Display Merchandisers and Storage Cabinets (CRM) |
| Commercial Water Heaters | Commercial Water Heaters (CWH) |
| Furnaces | Residential Furnaces (RFRN) |
| Geothermal Heat Pumps | Geothermal Heat Pumps (WSHP/DGX) |
| Light Commercial HVAC | Unitary Large Equipment (ULE) Unitary Air Conditioner & Heat Pump Equipment (USAC/USHP) Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) |
| Water Heaters Non Solar Electric and Non Solar Gas | Residential Water Heaters (RWH) |
AHRI’s longstanding leadership in energy efficiency certification programs makes it the perfect choice for manufacturers that want to certify products to ENERGY STAR with confidence and at minimal cost.
Qualification
Step 1: Establish partnership with EPA
- Visit EPA’s website for details on becoming a partner with EPA
Step 2: Submission to AHRI
- Complete Product Data Submission Form
- Contact AHRI for the forms needed for each specific ENERGY STAR product category.
- One or multiple test report(s) of the representative model for each Basic Model Group submitted. Please refer to EPA DIRECTIVE NO. 2011-04 for consequences on the verification requirement based on your choice to submit one or multiple test reports to qualify (if applicable).
Verification
- AHRI shall select at least 10 percent of each Participant’s ENERGY STAR Basic Models or BMGs (that are registered or certified with AHRI) as part of the AHRI Annual Testing Requirement, with a minimum of one (1) model tested annually depending on the requirement of the AHRI Certification Program.
Fees
- Annual testing for ENERGY STAR program requirements is included in the AHRI Annual Participation Fee Invoice.
- Participant laboratory audit fees are not included in the AHRI Annual Participation fee. The Participant shall be invoiced separately for the audit.