EPA and DOE sign partnership covering Energy Star and SSL

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy (DOE) have announced a new partnership agreement that sets out clear roles and responsibilities for the agencies in the ENERGY STAR program and the National Building Rating Program.

The agreement positions EPA as the lead agency for the Energy Star program as a whole. It also resolves the dispute between the two agencies over the Energy Star criteria that effect solid-state lighting (see Related Stories).

The agreement will also affect the DOE's Solid State Lighting program, although the precise implications will not become clear for weeks if not months.

Specifically with regard to Energy Star and solid-state lighting, senior management at EPA and DOE have agreed the following, which has been passed to the program-level contacts:

• EPA will be brand manager and Agency lead for the Energy Star products program. This includes managing manufacturer agreements, specification development, and marketing and outreach.
• EPA will manage these efforts with technical support from DOE in areas such as product testing and verification, leveraging the substantial ongoing DOE work with R&D, product testing, and test procedure development.
• EPA and DOE will work expeditiously to integrate their existing efforts across residential lighting.
• An integrated approach to Energy Star residential lighting program will be developed for industry and other stakeholder comment that recognizes the importance of both whole fixture-based and light source-based approaches for measuring lighting energy efficiency.
• This proposal will guide future Energy Star specifications for fixtures and bulbs. This proposal will be provided for comment within 2 months.

LEDs Magazine will report further details of the fall-out from this agreement, as they emerge.