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Special coverage: NFRC in Tempe
Canada and United States consider Energy Star for commercial windows
The U.S. Department of Energy and Natural Resources Canada have tentative plans to expand the Energy Star Windows Rating to commercial systems, according to officials from both countries who spoke during the Greenbelt, Md.-based National Fenestration Rating Council meeting Nov. 6 in Tempe, Ariz.
“We’ve been urged by the sector to start developing a commercial window program for Energy Star, and will be looking at that in a couple of months,” said Richard Karney, DOE Energy Star program manager.
The lack of an Energy Star program for commercial products has created confusion in the marketplace, Karney said, as architects trying to be green specify Energy Star windows in high-rise multifamily applications, only to later learn that the residential products don’t meet structural requirements. “A high-rise apartment goes up, and people ask about Energy Star. We need to make a clarification about the criteria—it’s only for low-rise residential.”
The same confusion exists in the Canadian Energy Star, prompting discussion to extend the program to commercial products in that country as well, says Steve Hopwood, program officer for standards and labeling, housing and equipment, for the Office of Energy Efficiency of Natural Resources Canada in Ottawa.
“We are looking to introduce [Energy Star rating] levels for commercial windows, but we have to be very careful in how we do this,” Hopwood says. “We have to delineate between commercial and residential products by using new designations.”
The Office of Energy Efficiency is considering requiring structural testing and possible certification for all commercial Energy Star windows, Hopwood says.
No definitive plans have been set for either program.
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