DOE responds to EPA issuance of SSL criteria

June 16, 2008
The U.S. DOE has responded to the consternation that followed the EPA's announcement of Energy Star criteria covering LED-based residential light fixtures.
As we reported in a June 6 news item and in more detail in a June 10 article, there was widespread disbelief and uproar when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued Energy Star criteria that clash with documentation already released by the Department of Energy (DOE).

After a delay, the original letter from the EPA and the RLF v4.2 document have now been posted on the Energy Star website.

We're aware that a huge amount is going on behind the scenes at DOE, but until now there has been little public comment, hardly suprising for such a sensitive and important issue.

However, on Friday 13 June, the DOE emailed its constituent stakeholders to advise them, briefly, that "efforts to resolve this confusion are on-going."

Here is the DOE's statement of Friday June 13 in full:

On June 2, 2008, the EPA issued a modification to its Energy Star Light Fixture criteria that has generated a great deal of discussion within the lighting industry and energy efficiency stakeholders.

Much of this discussion stems from confusion relating to the compatibility of the EPA criteria versus the previously announced DOE solid state lighting criteria, which will take effect on September 30, 2008.

Today, David Rodgers, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the Department of Energy issued the following statement: "DOE is aware of the confusion created by EPA's release of the amended criteria. Efforts to resolve this confusion are on-going - in the meantime, the September 2007 guidance stands as the valid guidance for SSL."

If you have questions regarding the kick-off of the DOE Energy Star SSL Program please address them to [email protected].

[DOE statement ends here.]

If you have any comments on this situation, or our articles on the subject, you're welcome to comment on the World of LEDs blog.