On Energy Stars and Watershapes

An Interview by Lenny Giteck

The path to extending the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star certification program to the pool and spa industry was neither short nor smooth: It took the industry fully five years to convince Energy Star to certify variable-speed pumps. That important step began about a year ago, and now six manufacturers have earned certification for various energy-efficient pool-pump models.

The Energy Star program was created in 1992. A joint effort by the EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy, it seeks to identify, certify and promote consumer products that are energy-efficient. In many cases, certified products consume up to a third less energy as compared to products that don’t meet the program’s standards.

Why did it take so long for Energy Star to begin certifying this industry’s products?

They had an enormously long list of items they were looking at – refrigerators, clothes washers, light bulbs, computers and so forth. Pool and spa products weren’t high on the list.

Why not?

The program had ten “guiding principles” that a product needed to fulfill to be considered for certification. Three were problematic for the pool and spa industry.

Jeff Farlow

First, a number of manufacturers had to produce the product. Pentair offered the first variable-speed pumps in 2005, and it took a while for other companies to follow suit. Also, the product was supposed to benefit the entire population – and not everyone owns a pool. Finally, Energy Star prefers products that achieve instant savings when plugged in. Unlike refrigerators, say, pool pumps require programming to ensure that energy savings are achieved.

In that regard, the pool industry plays an important role in making sure we maintain the Energy Star certification mark. That’s why manufacturers continue to offer training to educate the trade on proper installation and on techniques for optimizing performance and energy reduction.

What happened to turn things around as far as those three issues were concerned?

Simply put, Energy Star eventually worked its way through the list of major products that could save a lot of energy; they were getting down to little items that had a very small amount of energy savings per unit. At a certain point, they loosened their guiding principles and decided to look at products in the pool and spa industry.

Are the manufactures in the industry that have received certification for certain product models promoting that fact to the best advantage?

Some are and some aren’t. When I look through our industry’s trade journals, I see that ads for a number of certified products don’t display the Energy Star mark or make prominent mention of it. Sometimes it’s noted only in very fine print.

How do you explain that?

I think some people still don’t understand the power of the Energy Star label. All the surveys and studies show that when consumers are faced with a purchase decision and don’t know anything else about a product, they choose one that is Energy Star-certified over the others.

What about Pentair? Is the company taking the Energy Star certification seriously?

Very much so. We’ve created new point-of-purchase materials, updated all our product literature and advertising and held social media events related to the certification. We’ve even put on webinars about it in conjunction with the EPA.

Clearly, you think certification gives manufacturers a competitive edge.

It gives them an edge in relation to their competitors, but it also has an impact within an individual manufacturer’s product lineup. At Pentair, we still manufacture single-speed pumps that don’t meet Energy Star standards – but we’ve definitely seen the Energy Star label steer consumers toward our certified product models.

What about the image of the industry as a whole? Does its involvement with the Energy Star program make a difference?

I do think it helps improve the image of the entire pool and spa industry. Traditionally, swimming pools have consumed way more energy than they should have. To be fair, the industry didn’t have the technology and products to address the issue – but they exist now. New technology has given us a powerful tool to reduce energy consumption, and that’s something we need to bring to the attention of the public. Plus, I should mention that Energy Star certification can go beyond specific products.

Please explain.

The program also includes an Energy Star Partners component – one part of which is for manufacturers and another for retailers. If you qualify as a certified partner, you can promote that fact as well. Again, it helps improve the image of the entire industry.

It seems as though new energy-saving technologies could create significant business opportunities for updating existing pools?

Absolutely. There are approximately five million inground pools in the United States; the new technologies create a huge opening to go back and retrofit them so that existing pool owners also benefit from cost savings.

I read somewhere that switching to a variable-speed pump can save a homeowner about $300 a year. That doesn’t sound terribly impressive.

I believe you got that figure from the EPA Web site, and even they acknowledge it is a very conservative number. One of the roles I’ve taken on is to help the folks at EPA develop and publicize a more realistic, more accurate cost-savings estimate.

What would be more accurate? How much can a homeowner really hope to save?

It depends on the region: Different areas of the country vary in terms of run time on pool pumps. It also depends on the cost of electricity: The rates of different utility companies vary greatly as well. I’ve certainly seen savings that are five times the $300 figure – $1,500, $1,600, $1,800 per year. So while it’s hard to make an overall estimate for the country, there’s no doubt that the $300 figure is ridiculously low.

The EPA has a pool pump energy savings calculator on its Web site, so consumers can determine their actual savings based on their local parameters.

How is the message about energy-efficient pool pumps getting out to the general public?

One thing I’ve spent a huge amount of time on is working with utility companies to develop rebate incentive programs that promote the purchase of energy-efficient pumps. Utilities around the country want to offer monetary incentives for saving energy – and that includes incentives for pool owners.

Is the number of rebate programs growing?

Up through 2007, there were fewer than a dozen utility rebate programs in the country related to pool pumps. Since then the number has grown enormously. Last year alone, nine more were launched. So far in 2014 there have been 10, and it’s only the early part of the year! I think we’re going to wind up with considerably more than 60 rebate programs by the end of the year.

Why are the utility companies interested in this? What’s in it for them?

Electricity costs around the nation are rising. Our energy infrastructure is being strained more and more as we experience economic growth. And we’re not building a lot of new power plants or adding all that much capacity to the grid. So we really need to work hard at reducing the demand for electricity, and utility companies understand that.

Does Energy Star certification play a role in these incentive programs?

Utility companies have to figure out exactly what products they want to include in an incentive program. In the absence of Energy Star certification, that would require a great deal of work and expense to perform the necessary due diligence. But the Energy Star program outsources all of this to the federal government, enabling utility companies to say, “If a variable speed pump is on the Energy Star list, it qualifies.”

Do you view that recognition as particularly important?

It’s very significant and extremely positive, because utilities are seen as being unbiased in this regard. They tend to have a fair amount of credibility with the public, so the incentive programs help consumers understand that the energy-saving message is both genuine and worthwhile.

What do you see as the next step for Energy Star and the pool and spa industry beyond variable-speed pumps?

I think the expansion of the Energy Star label to cover LED pool lights would be a natural progression. Eventually, I’d like to see Energy Star labels for pool heat pumps as well.

Additional background information for this article was provided by Steve Gutai, Director of Trade Marketing for Zodiac Pool Systems.