It would be great to see Energy Star certification on Ilumin bulbs. They already seem to clear the bar in key respects, like lm/W. Many utility companies provide rebates for purchasing Energy Star certified bulbs.
I am not authoritative on this in any way.
From what I understand, the hold up is the chipset itself, perhaps the standby power draw keeping the Z-Wave chip running. Apparently the old 500 series Z-Wave chipset doesn’t meet current energy standards; the newer 700 series would but there are semiconductor shortages in a great many industries right now so I’ve heard that Silicon Labs is having trouble with availability.
That might explain the purchase requirements @Eric_Inovelli was talking about here: Firmware v2.30 (Beta) | LZW42 | RGBW Bulb - #67 by Eric_Inovelli
I am not sure, but if I had to guess, California’s Title 24 requirements are likely to be more stringent than the federal Energy Star requirements.