Canada's ENERGY STAR specification for windows and doors is moving again after a period of uncertainty, according to Jamie Hulan, senior director of equipment and housing at Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). Hulan addressed the Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance (FGIA) Fall Conference in Calgary with an update on the program and Ottawa's strategy for energy-efficient homes. Fenestration Review reported that the update had been delayed while Canadian officials weighed how to respond to funding threats to the U.S. ENERGY STAR program, with which Canada's program shared branding under agreement.
The shared branding under agreement meant that any disruption to the U.S. program would immediately affect the Canadian label. Hulan said Canadian officials weighed a range of responses, from rebranding to more significant reforms, before the U.S. program's survival allowed the certification work to resume. The shared branding had made the Canadian label vulnerable to decisions made in Washington.
Last year, the Trump administration attempted to cut funding to the U.S. program, Hulan explained. The U.S. program ultimately survived, moving from administration by the Environmental Protection Agency to the Department of Energy. Canada made the opposite move, taking ENERGY STAR out of Natural Resources Canada and into the Ministry of Environment.
Now that "the dust has settled," Hulan reported, ENERGY STAR administrators have returned to the work of tightening the certification's standards so that only the top-performing 20 to 30 percent of window products qualify, down from about 70 percent of products that qualify today. Hulan said a draft of the new requirements should be available for consultations within a month. That timeline would give manufacturers and specifiers an early look at how the bar will move.
How the ENERGY STAR update fits Ottawa's market transformation plan
Hulan placed the ENERGY STAR changes within a broader government goal of market transformation toward higher-performing household products. According to Fenestration Review's account, the strategy has three pillars:
- Information, including the ENERGY STAR label
- Incentives, such as Greener Homes
- Regulations, including changes to building codes
Market transformation initiatives only work when all three elements are coordinated, Hulan said. He noted that the market transformation effort has stalled in the case of fenestration because of enforcement challenges. Hulan said he has heard industry warnings that attempts to require certified products without a consistent and reliable means of enforcement will create an uneven playing field where unscrupulous actors undercut those attempting to follow the rules. That warning helps explain why the government has not moved faster on fenestration.
Hulan's acknowledgment of enforcement challenges is notable because without enforcement, a tighter standard could penalize the companies that follow the rules. The warning he relayed was that unscrupulous actors would undercut compliant manufacturers if certified products were required without consistent enforcement. That concern has slowed the fenestration portion of the market transformation effort, according to Hulan. For fenestration, that coordination is especially important because certification without enforcement can be gamed.
A harmonized window label returns to the agenda
As a step toward being able to enforce energy-efficiency regulations, NRCan has resumed efforts to develop a harmonized window label that will satisfy energy code requirements across the country. The label would give builders, code officials and homeowners a consistent way to identify compliant products, according to Hulan's presentation. Even with such a label, he admitted there is no answer yet as to how use of labelled products would be enforced on retrofit projects that don't require a building permit, though he was optimistic some solution can be found. He did not offer a timeline for resolving that enforcement gap.
For code officials and builders, a harmonized window label could reduce provincial and territorial differences in documentation, but Hulan did not say when the label would be ready. The retrofit enforcement question remains open because some retrofit projects happen without a building permit, which means there is no inspection point to verify compliance.
Government priority shifts from conservation to affordability
Hulan also alluded to a subtle shift in government priority from energy conservation to energy affordability. The emphasis is now less on saving the planet from climate change at any cost and more on saving homeowners money on their energy bills. Going forward, the market transformation effort will be mindful of potential unintended consequences and seek input from more sources without being siloed inside one scope of focus.
What it means for window and door makers
For Canadian window and door manufacturers and specifiers, the return to standard-setting reduces the uncertainty that followed the U.S. funding fight. Companies that rely on ENERGY STAR for rebate eligibility and performance labels now have a clearer signal that the Canadian program is moving forward on its own administrative track, even as the certification bar rises.
Window and door products in Canada are already specified against standards such as CSA A440 and NAFS, while ENERGY STAR remains a separate, voluntary market signal. Hulan did not detail how the new ENERGY STAR thresholds will align with those documents. The tightening from about 70 percent of qualifying products to 20 to 30 percent, if adopted as described, would leave a smaller pool of certified models. The consultation period itself is part of the information pillar Hulan described. But the draft consultation process is expected to give industry a chance to respond before any change takes effect.
For now, the operational message from Calgary is that the dust has settled and the certification work is back on track. The next milestone will be the draft requirements, expected within a month of Hulan's presentation.