The ENERGY STAR® program was developed by the U.S. Federal government to encourage the use of energy-efficient products. The program sets requirements for a wide range of products to qualify to display the ENERGY STAR mark. It approves certification bodies to evaluate products and award the mark.
SRCC is approved by the U.S. EPA to certify solar water heaters to the ENERGY STAR Residential Water Heater Specification.
Certification is available to manufacturers of solar water heating systems for residential applications who have signed up to become ENERGY STAR partner organizations.
The eligibility requirements set by the current Version 5.0 specification are summarized here.
| ENERGY STAR Requirements for Solar Water Heaters (v.5.0) |
|---|
CERTIFICATION: OG-300 for Residential Solar Water Heating Systems with a backup water heater (solar collectors alone cannot be certified). Solar pool heaters are not eligible for this certification. PERFORMANCE: SUEF > 3.0 for systems with electric backup SUEF > 1.8 for systems with gas backup. WARRANTY: > 10 years for collector > 6 years on sealed system > 2 years on controls > 1 year on piping & parts |
Interested in ENERGY STAR certification? Applying with SRCC is easy:
Step 1: Register as an ENERGY STAR partner with the U.S. EPA, and receive a partner number. Registration is free, and must be done directly with the U.S. EPA.
Step 2: Get OG-300 certification for your solar water heater (if you don't already have it). Click here to access SRCC's portal and submit an OG-300 application or request a quote.
Step 3: Apply for ENERY STAR certification from SRCC on SRCC's portal. SRCC is approved by the U.S. EPA to grant ENERGY STAR certification for residential solar water heaters. You'll need to supply the application, ENERGY STAR partner number from Step 1, and information on the warranty for your system.
Step 4: SRCC staff will model your systems using the TRNSYS software package to get their SUEF values and review your warranty to determine if your system qualifies. If so, we then draft and post your new certifications.
The EPA released an updated specification for the program, Version 5.0, and formally implemented it on April 17, 2023. Version 5.0 continues the use of the Solar Uniform Energy Factor (SUEF or Solar UEF) metric implemented for the first time in Version 4.0. This replaced the outdated Solar Energy Factor (SEF) metric used in previous versions. Click here to learn more about SUEF.
