A number of green building certification programs, including the EPA’s Energy Star Programs, RESNET’s Home Energy Rating System, and Home Innovation Research Labs’s National Green Building Standard, will adopt emergency remote inspection procedures in order to protect the health and safety of raters during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Raters will be able to conduct these remote inspections using video or photo documentation, as well as additional documentation depending on the program at hand.
The allowance for remote visual verification for RESNET’s HERS scores will be permitted for 90 days beginning March 31, 2020. ENERGY STAR Single-Family Home, Multifamily New Construction, Multifamily High Rise and Indoor airPLUS programs will permitted for a period of 90 days ending June 30, 2020. Home Innovation’s protocol is available upon request and approval for emergency situations.
RESNET is also exploring allowance of testing alternatives, such as certain RESNET-defined default values for ventilation airflow rate defaults, duct leakage to outside defaults and infiltration defaults. EPA will continue to require on-site diagnostic testing, and is working with RESNET to see how these testing alternatives may apply to ENERGY STAR programs.
