Later this summer, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) will institute more stringent, recalibrated Energy Star certification metrics in an attempt to reflect current market conditions. As a result of this recalibration, Energy Star scores are expected to drop an average of 10 points for office buildings and 16 points for retail buildings.
If maintaining your current Energy Star score is a priority, the EPA recommends that you apply for your building’s 2018 Energy Star certification no later than July 26, 2018. To accommodate as many applications as possible before the more stringent metrics kick in, the EPA will not enforce its typical 11-month waiting period between applications during this application cycle. As a result, all buildings that earned a 2017 Energy Star certification will be eligible to earn a 2018 Energy Star certification before the deadline this summer. Applications submitted after July 26, 2018 may be evaluated with the updated metrics, especially if extensive follow-up is required, and applications submitted after August 26, 2018 will definitely be evaluated with the recalibrated metrics.
For more information about Energy Star and this summer’s updates, please visit https://www.energystar.gov.