RESNET has been working in collaboration with EPA since November on the next round of improvements to the ENERGY STAR for Homes program. Jonathan Passe’s email below summarizes the gist of those improvements, including an update to the ENERGY STAR QA Checklist. While the Revision 08 changes will take a little more time to finalize and be adopted by EPA, RESNET requested that EPA publish the updated ENERGY STAR QA Checklist as soon as possible so that QA Designees can start using the 2015 version of the Checklist right away as part of their 2015 quality assurance. If you have already completed quality assurance work for 2015 using the original version of the ENERGY STAR QA Checklist, it is not necessary to redo that work on the 2015 version of the Checklist. However, please be certain to use the 2015 version for all ENERGY STAR quality assurance work from this point forward. We hope that you agree that the updated ENERGY STAR QA Checklist will be easier for QAD’s to use and, when they are released, that the Revision 08 changes will make it easier for Raters to implement the ENERGY STAR for Homes program. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Please find attached the 2015 Quality Assurance Checklist for the ENERGY STAR Certified Homes program. Please distribute this to RESNET’s Quality Assurance Providers for their use in the year ahead. The primary changes for 2015 are: • A paring back of QA tasks related to HVAC systems. • The elimination of several visual inspections related to ventilation air inlets. • The addition of a requirement to inspect the MERV rating of the HVAC filter. The primary reason for these changes is that the team here is hard at work on Revision 08, which we’ll be previewing at the RESNET conference in several weeks. Our primary goals for Revision 08 are to reduce the amount of paperwork that needs to be managed to certify a home, and to streamline the HVAC oversight responsibilities of the Rater to the most essential items while additional standards and resources are developed. The 2015 ENERGY STAR QA Checklist reflects these goals. It some cases, the changes above reflect items that will also be changed on the Rev 08 HVAC System QI Rater Checklist. In other cases, it simply means that it won’t be a focus for QA in 2015. QA Providers may begin to use this checklist immediately to fulfill their QA responsibilities for 2015. We look forward to seeing you all at the RESNET conference and discussing Revision 08 in more detail. Jonathan Passe Director, ENERGY STAR Residential Branch
