By Sue Coakley | Thu, April 13, 17
The US EPA’s ENERGY STAR Program, created in 1992 under the President George H. W. Bush administration, is a star performer in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic energy efficiency success story. NEEP states and efficiency programs – from the District of Columbia to Maine – rely on the ENERGY STAR label to distinguish quality and efficient lighting products, home appliances, consumer electronics, and homes and buildings in order to help meet aggressive energy savings goals, comply with legislative mandates, and reduce carbon emissions.
NEEP and ENERGY STAR have grown-up together. In 1996, NEEP was founded with a challenge grant from the EPA to engage states and utilities across the region to use the ENERGY STAR label as a resource to meet efficiency program savings goals. From 2000 to 2016, NEEP brought together efficiency programs across the region to promote ENERGY STAR-labeled products – a successful effort that jointly earned NEEP’s sponsors the ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award for 17 years – 10 of which were at the highest level of Sustained Excellence. This regional success helped efficiency programs meet aggressive energy savings goals while also establishing ENERGY STAR as one of the most widely recognized consumer brands in the nation.
But ENERGY STAR means a lot more to NEEP than just winning awards. The ENERGY STAR label has been the bedrock of NEEP’s regional market transformation strategies to make energy efficient products, homes, and buildings the preferred choice for consumers, home buyers and building investors. ENERGY STAR’s regular updates to product efficiency requirements, coupled with the leading edge ENERGY STAR MOST EFFICIENT label to identify top energy savers, has continuously improved energy performance to drive more energy savings for over 25 years. This has truly been transformative. What was cutting edge efficiency just 10 years ago in lighting, appliance, and electronics, is now “standard” efficiency – offering energy savings for everyone. I can’t imagine what our region’s energy-use profile would look like without ENERGY STAR.
By the numbers, ENERGY STAR is impactful in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region. For example, in our region alone, the ENERGY STAR New Homes Program has saved 13,719 metric tons of carbon in 2015,1 31 industrial plants have been recognized by ENERGY STAR for their efficiency achievements (averaging a 16 percent energy reduction),2 and over 5,000 commercial buildings, over 1,000 schools,3 14 congregations,4 34 hospitals,5 and 86 multifamily buildings in our region6 are ENERGY STAR rated.
The 2017 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year award ceremony is coming up later this month. I’ll be there to celebrate the successes of ENEGY STAR along with the many organizations and companies from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic that will be honored that night. As I applaud, a bright future for the ENERGY STAR program will be foremost on my mind.
Congratulations to:
CT
Energize Connecticut in partnership with Eversource, United Illuminating, Connecticut Natural Gas, and Southern Connecticut Gas (Hartford, CT)
DE
Delaware Sustainable Energy Utility (Dover, DE)
DC
BOMA International (Washington, DC)
Delmarva Power (Washington, DC)
Fannie Mae (Washington, DC)
National Multifamily Housing Council (Washington, DC)
Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco) (Washington, DC)
MD
Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BG&E) (Baltimore, MD)
Bozzuto Management Company (Greenbelt, MD)
Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) (Hughesville, MD)
MA
Beacon Capital Partners LLC (Boston, MA)
EnerNOC, Inc. (Boston, MA)
National Grid (MA) (Waltham, MA)
Raytheon Company (Waltham, MA)
Staples the Office Superstore, LLC (Framingham, MA)
The Lighting and Products Sponsors of Mass Save (Boston, MA)
NH
Chinburg Properties (Newmarket, NH)
GDS Associates (Manchester, NH)
NH CORE Utilities (Manchester, NH)
NJ
Allergan (Parsippany, NJ)
MaxLite (West Caldwell, NJ)
Merck & Co., Inc. (Kenilworth, NJ)
NY
Bristol-Myers Squibb (New York, NY)
CAMBA Housing Ventures, Inc. (Brooklyn, NY)
Canon U.S.A., Inc. (Melville, NY)
CodeGreen Solutions (New York, NY)
Colgate-Palmolive Company (New York, NY)
Corning Incorporated (Corning, NY)
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) (Albany, NY)
TH Real Estate (New York, NY)
Tishman Speyer (New York, NY)
Verizon (New York, NY)
Vornado Realty Trust (New York, NY)
PA
Air King America, LLC (West Chester, PA)
Ricoh USA, Inc. (Malvern, PA)
RI
National Grid (RI) (Providence, RI)
VT
Efficiency Vermont (Burlington, VT)
Congratulations to our Allies, nationwide:
Ecova (Spokane, WA)
GE Lighting (East Cleveland, Ohio)
Panasonic Eco Solutions North America (Newark, NJ)
1 https://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=qhmi.showhomesmarketindex
2 https://www.energystar.gov/buildings/facility-owners-and-managers/industrial-plants/earn-recognition/energy-star-challenge-industry/see-0
3 https://www.energystar.gov/sites/default/files/tools/K12%20Schools.pdf figure 5
4 https://www.energystar.gov/sites/default/files/tools/Worship.pdf
5 https://www.energystar.gov/sites/default/files/tools/Hospital_US_0.pdf
6 https://www.energystar.gov/sites/default/files/tools/Multifamily.pdf