The ENERGY STAR® program has come under fire recently with news that not all of the certified products actually meet reported efficiencies and accuracies. Now, the American National Standards Institute  (ANSI) is stepping in to offer an accreditation program for those third-party accreditation bodies that assign ENERGY STAR® certification, to make sure that all the guidelines are followed.

Energy Star promotes energy efficient products and practices and is a joint initiative of the EPA and DOE. With the expansion of ENERGY STAR® to over 60 categories, the EPA and DOE have new requirements for the product certification bodies, which are:

• Meeting EPA requirements as set forth in the Conditions and Criteria for Recognition of Certification Bodies for the ENERGY STAR® Program;

• Being accredited by a third-party accreditation body to ISO/IEC Guide 65, General requirements for bodies operating product certification systems.

According to the ANSI new release, “The ANSI pilot program is designed to support the ENERGY STAR® Program through the independent, third-party accreditation of product certification bodies that evaluate and certify the activities of energy-efficient product manufacturers. As noted above, the pilot program will assess the applicant certification bodies against the requirements set forth in the EPA Conditions and Criteria for Recognition of Certification Bodies for the ENERGY STAR® Program; ISO/IEC Guide 65; and IAF – GD 5 – 2006, IAF Guidance on the application of ISO/IEC Guide 65.”

ANSI will accept applications for the pilot program from August 27 through September 27, 2010. For more information, contact Reinaldo Figueiredo, senior program director (accreditation@ansi.org; 202.331.3611) or Nikki Jackson, program manager (accreditation@ansi.org; 202-331-3623).

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