EPA honors energy-efficient Energy Star partners across the nation

by Brianna Crandall — April 9, 2014—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are honoring 127 organizations for their commitment to protecting the environment through superior energy efficiency. The award winners were selected from 16,000 Energy Star partners, including manufacturers, retailers, public schools, hospitals, real estate companies, and home builders, for demonstrated innovative strategies to help their own companies as well as customers, partners and stakeholders save energy and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Organizations are recognized in the following categories:

  • Partner of the Year—Sustained Excellence: The 72 Sustained Excellence winners continue to exhibit exceptional leadership year after year in the Energy Star program while remaining dedicated to environmental protection through superior energy efficiency.
  • Partner of the Year: Forty-five organizations are receiving the Partner of the Year award for strategically and comprehensively managing their energy use. These organizations promote Energy Star products and practices in their own operations, in addition to providing efficient products and services to consumers and within their community.
  • Partner of the Year—Climate Communications: The 10 Climate Communications winners have raised their customers’ awareness of the impacts of climate change. These partners have created communications that encourage their customers to combat climate change with the help of Energy Star and emphasize how energy-efficient behaviors have a positive effect on the environment.
  • Excellence: Nine winners are receiving awards in part for their superior efforts in the Home Performance with Energy Star program. The remaining organizations are receiving Excellence Awards for specific activities to promote energy-efficient products, homes, or buildings.

A sampling of the recipients of the Energy Star Partner of the Year—Sustained Excellence awards includes: BOMA International (Washington, DC); CBRE, Inc. (Los Angeles, CA); Ecova (Spokane, WA); JLL (Chicago, IL); Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships, Inc. (NEEP) (Lexington, MA); Saint-Gobain (Valley Forge, PA); and Staples, Inc. (Framingham, MA). Facilities professionals for all of the companies are to be congratulated for the large role they played in these awards.

Products, homes and buildings that earn the Energy Star label prevent greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy efficiency requirements set by the U.S. EPA. From the first Energy Star qualified computer in 1992, the Energy Star label can now be found on products in more than 70 different categories, with more than 4.5 billion sold. Over 1.5 million new homes and 23,000 office buildings, schools and hospitals have earned the Energy Star label. Since the Energy Star program began, American families and businesses have saved $297 billion on utility bills and prevented more than 2.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions with help from Energy Star, according to the EPA.