GREEN CREATIVE offers a complete lineup of LED products that adhere to current national quality compliance standards including ENERGY STAR®, Design Lights Consortium (DLC®), and various California specific specifications (Title 20, Title 24, JA8, etc).
ENERGY STAR®
ENERGY STAR® is a US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sponsored program to promote environmental protection through energy efficient products and practices. Products that have been qualified by ENERGY STAR® have passed strict technical requirements and can be considered energy efficient and reliable.
The ENERGY STAR® lighting program requirements for integral LED lamps (retrofit sources) was drafted in 2009 and has been updated to the new Final Specification V2.1. (effective January 2017). The majority of GREEN CREATIVE “screw-in” lamp products fall within this category.
The separate ENERGY STAR® program requirements for LED light fixtures was drafted in 1997 and has been updated to the new Final Specification V2.1 (effective June 2016). The majority of GREEN CREATIVE downlight products fall within these categories.
ENERGY STAR® requirements cover various aspects of product performance and longevity, below is a brief summary of seven key ENERGY STAR® integral lamp requirements:
EFFICIENCY
To ensure products in given categories meet established energy efficiency requirements ENERGY STAR® has different efficacy (lumens per watt, lm/W) requirements for different bulb types as well as different CRI levels, as outlined at the left graph.
LIGHT OUTPUT
To ensure products in given categories provide enough light to accurately match the incumbent incandescent bulbs they are potentially replacing ENERGY STAR sets baseline requirements for light output based on different bulb power consumption levels, as outline in graph.
COLOR QUALITY
ENERGY STAR® Sets color quality standards by requiring LED bulbs to meet a Color Rendering Index (CRI) of 80 or greater and an R9 value of 0 or greater.
LUMEN MAINTENANCE
ENERGY STAR® sets minimum light output levels over the life of products to ensure product longevity. LED bulbs are required to maintain a minimum percentage of 0-hour light output after completion of the 6000-hr test duration, this percentage ranges from 86.7% – 95.8% depending on the claimed lifetime of the bulb.
CORRELATED COLOR TEMPERATURE (CCT)
ENERGY STAR® regulates the Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) of lamps by setting acceptable ranges of tested CCT values. See left chart outlining these ranges.
DIMMING
To ensure product dimming performance, ENERGY STAR® requires dimmable bulbs test for maximum and minimum light output on a dimmer, as well as, flicker and noise. The products must also dim to 20% or lower.
WARRANTY
ENERGY STAR® requires baseline product warranties to ensure product longevity and customer satisfaction. A warranty of 2 years is required for bulbs with a product life rating less than 15,000 hours and a warranty of 3 years is required for bulbs with a life rating of greater than 15,000 hours.
The DesignLights Consortium (DLC®)
The DesignLights Consortium® is a non-profit group funded by a variety of utilities and other industry groups with the goal of accelerating widespread adoption of energy efficient commercial lighting. DLC® develops technical requirements for various LED luminaires and other lighting technologies primarily in commercial applications not covered by ENERGY STAR®.
To be eligible products must meet the current DLC Technical requirements V5.1. There are specific requirements for Luminaires, Retrofit Kits, lamps, as well as networked controls. Although different than ENERGY STAR® requirements, the specifications focus on similar criteria such as efficacy, CCT, color rendering, and warranty. DLC® requirements are also unique for very specific product use categories.
DLC® Premium is a higher tier designation that requires more stringent technical requirements (outlined in DLC V5.1 link above).
Q&A – DLC V5.1
What are the important timelines for DLC V5.1?
20th Feb. 2020
Final V5.0 & V5.1 Technical Requirements released
1st Jul. 2020
New product applications or update applications for V4.4 or V5.0 listed products accepted
28th Feb. 2021
Products that do not meet V5.0 requirements delisted
15th Oct. 2021
Deadline to submit V5.1 product update applications for V5.0 listed products
31st Dec. 2021
Products that do not meet V5.1 requirements delisted
Where the technical requirements changed in DLC V5.1 compared to those in DLC V4.4?
Controllability
Comprehensive dimming requirements and controls reporting
Efficacy
Increased efficacy, new General Application and updated Primary Use Designations
Color Performance
Chromaticity and color rendition requirements changes, new color maintenance requirements
Discomfort Glare
New discomfort glare requirements for DLC Premium
Light Distribution
Additional distribution requirements
Allowances and Tolerances
New and updated allowances and tolerances
Lumen Maintenance
TM-21 Addendum B compliance and uneven intervals exception
Reference Housings
Removed for some lamps, replaced with beam angle requirement
