ENERGY STAR Overview

ENERGY STAR® is the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency, providing simple, credible, and unbiased information that consumers and businesses rely on to make well-informed decisions. Thousands of industrial, commercial, utility, state, and local organizations—including about 40% of the Fortune 500®—partner with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deliver cost-saving energy efficiency solutions that improve air quality and protect the climate. Since 1992, ENERGY STAR and its partners helped American families and businesses save more than 4 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity and achieve over 3.5 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas reductions, equivalent to the annual emissions of more than 750 million cars. In 2018 alone, ENERGY STAR and its partners helped Americans avoid $35 billion in energy costs.

ENERGY STAR products

ENERGY STAR is the simple choice for energy efficiency, making it easy for consumers and businesses to purchase products that save them money and protect the environment. EPA ensures that each product that earns the label is independently certified to deliver the efficiency performance and savings that consumers have come to expect. It’s that integrity that led Americans to purchase more than 300 million ENERGY STAR certified products in 2018 and more than 300 million ENERGY STAR certified light bulbs, with a market value of more than $100 billion.  In fact, an average of 800,000 ENERGY STAR certified products was sold every day in 2018, bringing the total to more than 6 billion products sold since 1992. Learn more about ENERGY STAR products.

ENERGY STAR for buildings and plants

ENERGY STAR tools and resources help businesses identify cost-effective approaches to managing energy use in their buildings and plants—enabling the private sector to save energy, increase profits, and strengthen their competitiveness. From commercial properties such as hospitals, schools, and offices, to industrial facilities such as cookie and cracker bakeries and integrated steel mills, thousands of businesses and organizations look to ENERGY STAR for guidance on strategic energy management.

The program’s popular online tool, ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager®, was used to measure and track the energy, water, and/or waste and materials of more than 260,000 commercial properties, comprising nearly 24 billion square feet of floorspace, across the nation in 2019. For eligible buildings, the tool calculates a 1–100 ENERGY STAR score, which has become the industry standard for rating a facility’s energy performance. EPA’s ENERGY STAR tools for industrial plants include industry-specific Energy Performance Indicators (EPIs), which provide companies with the information they need to make smart investment decisions. Learn more about ENERGY STAR for commercial buildings and industrial plants.

ENERGY STAR for the residential sector

ENERGY STAR certified homes are at least 10% more energy efficient than homes built to code and achieve a 20% improvement on average while providing homeowners with better quality, performance, and comfort. Twenty-eight hundred builders, developers, and manufactured housing plants are ENERGY STAR partners, including all of the nation’s 20 largest home builders. Over 2 million ENERGY STAR certified homes have been built, including nearly 100,000 in 2019 alone. Through the ENERGY STAR program, EPA also provides trusted guidance and online tools to help homeowners make smart decisions about improving the energy efficiency of their existing homes. In addition, more than 98,000 homeowners retrofitted their homes through the Home Performance with ENERGY STAR program in 2019, for a total of more than 870,000 to date. Learn more about ENERGY STAR for the residential sector.

Utilities and local governments rely on ENERGY STAR

Nationwide, utilities invested $8 billion in energy efficiency programs in 2018. With hundreds of different utilities scattered around the country, EPA plays a critical unifying role to guide their energy efficiency programs. EPA enables utilities to leverage ENERGY STAR as a common national platform, avoiding the creation of hundreds of independent utility programs across the nation, which could fragment the market and stall innovation. More than 800 utilities, state and local governments, and nonprofits leverage ENERGY STAR in their efficiency programs, reaching roughly 95% of households in all 50 states.

Additionally, as of the end of 2019, 32 local governments, three states, and one Canadian province rely on EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager® tool as the foundation for their energy benchmarking and transparency policies, creating uniformity for businesses and reducing transaction and implementation costs.

ENERGY STAR, jobs, and the economy

ENERGY STAR fosters economic development, greater competitiveness, and a healthy environment. ENERGY STAR certified products, homes, buildings, and plants helped save Americans families and businesses nearly 430 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and avoid $35 billion in energy costs in 2018 alone. Moreover, by increasing energy efficiency, ENERGY STAR is supporting U.S. energy security and helping improve the reliability of the electricity grid.

Additionally, according to the U.S. Energy and Employment Report, over 800,000 Americans are employed in manufacturing or installing ENERGY STAR certified appliances, including heating and cooling equipment -- over 30% of an estimated 2.3 million U.S. energy efficiency jobs in 2019.

ENERGY STAR and the environment

ENERGY STAR contributes to improved environmental quality and public health. Through voluntary action, ENERGY STAR provides states and local governments with more flexibility and reduced costs towards meeting their air quality requirements and their health, environmental, and climate goals. In 2018 alone, ENERGY STAR helped Americans save nearly 430 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and avoid $35 billion in energy costs with associated emission reductions of 330 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, 220,000 short tons of sulfur dioxide, 210,000 short tons of nitrogen oxides, and 23,000 short tons of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Since 1992, ENERGY STAR helped families and businesses achieve 3.5 billion metric tons in greenhouse gas reductions.

For additional details about ENERGY STAR achievements see ENERGY STAR By the Numbers. For ENERGY STAR facts and figures broken down geographically by state, see ENERGY STAR State Fact Sheets. For achievements by ENERGY STAR Award Winners, see the ENERGY STAR Award Winners Page.