Newly proposed changes by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to California’s Energy Standards explicitly prohibit door and window manufacturers from using or labeling their products with energy efficiency values for U-factor, SHGV, VT, and air-leakage other than National Fenestration Rating Council (NFRC) values or the default values specified by the CEC.

The CEC’s proposed changes to the 2019 Energy Standards are consistent with the CEC’s December 2017 Regulatory Advisory on Fenestration Labeling, which stated that manufacturer-generated labels such as “simulated performance alternative” values do not comply with California labeling requirements and cannot be used to verify fenestration compliance. (http://www.energy.ca.gov/2018publications/CEC-400-2018-007/CEC-400-2018-007.pdf).

The proposed changes also are consistent with the January-March 2018 issue of the CEC’s publication, Blueprint (http://www.energy.ca.gov/2018publications/CEC-400-2018-007/CEC-400-2018-007.pdf), which warned manufacturers that only labels using NFRC or CEC default values are acceptable.