Reminder: ENERGY STAR Light Commercial HVAC V4.0 (your comments due April 19, 2022)

The final ENERGY STAR Version 4.0 Light Commercial HVAC Specification was released on March 28, 2022 and will be effective on January 1, 2023 in the United States (U.S.) and Canada.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revised this specification in response to the forthcoming increase in stringency of the U.S. federal minimum efficiency requirements for HVAC equipment that will go into effect on January 1, 2023. As the 2023 requirements are more stringent than those posed by the current Version 3.1 specification, the EPA sought to update the ENERGY STAR criteria for Light Commercial HVAC products in parallel.

Light Commercial HVAC equipment certifying to ENERGY STAR under the Version 4.0 specification will offer a savings of more than 12% over a conventional model.

In light of there being no comments received from stakeholders on the very small cold climate heat pump proposal, the criteria is unchanged in the final specification. Given the difference between the first draft and the final draft for these criteria, ENERGY STAR will wait until April 19 to consider them final. Any stakeholders with further comments may submit them to LCHVAC@energystar.gov until that time. All comments will be posted unless the submitter requests otherwise.

Timeline and Next Steps

  • Effective immediately, manufacturers may elect to have their Certification Body (CB) certify their eligible products to the Version 4.0 requirements.
  • As of August 15, 2022, CBs will be instructed to stop certifying new product submittals to Version 3.1. Note, however, that existing certifications will remain valid for purposes of ENERGY STAR qualification until January 1, 2023.
  • Any Light Commercial HVAC product manufactured as of January 1, 2023, must meet Version 4.0 requirements to bear the ENERGY STAR mark. All certifications of products to the Version 3.1 specification will be invalid for purposes of ENERGY STAR qualification and the Searchable product list for ENERGY STAR in Canada will only include models certified to Version 4.0.

Need for Amendment in the Next 12 Months

The EPA expects to revisit this specification in the next 12 months but will avoid triggering recertification of products due to this amendment. Specifically, the EPA expects to:

  • Consider updating the specification to reference a single test method and one set of criteria (SEER2, EER2, and HSPF2),
  • Review the criteria and revise the test method for small and large VRF products, based on anticipated DOE action, and
  • Add cold climate recognition for unitary products.

Please contact Caroline Côté at NRCan caroline.cote@NRCan-RNCan.gc.ca, and/or Abigail Daken at the EPA at Daken.Abigail@epa.gov, with any questions regarding the specification. All materials related to the Version 4.0 specification development process are available on the EPA’s HVAC Version 4.0 Specification Development webpage and the NRCan ENERGY STAR Participant’s Updates webpage.

 

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