ENERGY STAR® OVERVIEW OF 

2011 ACHIEVEMENTS

ENERGY EFFICIENCY IS AN INVESTMENT IN OUR FUTURE

Improving energy efficiency is one of the easiest, fastest, and most cost-effective solutions for reducing 

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which contribute to climate change. As one of our nation’s important 

environmental challenges, climate change demands practical, proven solutions that can be implemented today 

to protect us tomorrow. Under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) leadership many American 

consumers, businesses, and organizations have already taken action. Their investments in energy efficiency 

are transforming the market for efficient products and practices, creating jobs, and stimulating the economy. 

Working together in the coming years, we can accelerate the efficiency improvements at home, at work, and in 

our communities and continue to make positive impacts on human health and the environment. 

The ENERGY STAR program has been instrumental in identifying cost-effective, innovative solutions for reducing 

GHG emissions since it was launched by EPA in 1992. This voluntary program has boosted the adoption of 

energy-efficient products, practices, and services through valuable partnerships, objective measurement tools, 

and consumer education. EPA will continue to dismantle barriers to widespread energy efficiency through 

ENERGY STAR by serving as a trusted source of unbiased information that helps consumers and businesses 

make choices that are good for the environment and the economy.

This document provides a brief overview of key ENERGY STAR achievements in 2011. A more comprehensive 

summary of the program’s accomplishments will be available later in 2012.

RESUlTS FOR 2011

A diverse set of organizations have joined forces with EPA through ENERGY STAR to protect the climate while 

bringing the value of energy efficiency to their customers, the public, and their own organizations. Through 2011, 

nearly 20,000 organizations have partnered with EPA, improved efficiency, and realized significant financial and 

environmental benefits.

Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, prevented 210 million metric tons of GHG emissions1

 in 2011 alone—

equivalent to the annual emissions from 41 million vehicles—and reduced their utility bills by $23 billion (see Fig. 1).

It is the millions of Americans and these committed partners who have tapped the value of ENERGY STAR, 

increased efficiency at work and at home, and prevented GHG emissions—increasing savings dramatically from 

the 0.7 million metric tons in 1993.2

Fig. 1. Since 2000, ENERGY STAR Benefits Have More Than Tripled

1 All reductions in annual greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) are reported in million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2

e).

2 ENERGY STAR program cost/benefit calculations began in 1993.

20102009200820072006200520042003200220012000 2011 20102009200820072006200520042003200220012000 2011

244

204

189

177 169

144

129

113

97

81

Energy Savings (Billion kWh) Emissions Avoided in Vehicle Equivalents (Millions)

59

10

12

14

16

19

22

24

27

29

31

38

41 270
ENERGY STAR FOR PRODUCTS 

The American public trusts ENERGY STAR as the national 

symbol for energy efficiency to inform their purchasing 

decisions, save them money, and protect the environment. By 

relying on ENERGY STAR for efficient products, Americans know 

they can save on utility bills while reducing GHG emissions.

Qualified Products. Americans purchased about 280 million 

ENERGY STAR qualified products in 2011 across more than 

60 product categories for a cumulative total of more than 

4 billion products since 2000 (see Fig. 2). Qualified products—

including appliances, heating and cooling equipment, 

consumer electronics, office equipment, lighting fixtures, and 

more—offer consumers savings of as much as 65% relative to 

standard models. Today, more than 80% of the American public 

recognizes the ENERGY STAR label. Of the households that 

knowingly purchased an ENERGY STAR qualified product, about 

75% credited the label as an important factor in their decision.

ENERGY STAR Product Specifications. EPA updated 

performance requirements for set-top boxes, televisions, 

ventilation fans, ceiling fans, furnaces, dehumidifiers, 

residential dishwashers, and commercial fryers. New, 

technology-neutral performance requirements were introduced 

for light fixtures. 

Third-Party Certification for ENERGY STAR Qualified Products. 

EPA’s testing and certification requirements improved the 

oversight of ENERGY STAR qualified products across more than 

60 product categories. Nearly 400 laboratories from all over the 

world were recognized by EPA to test ENERGY STAR products, 

and 21 certification bodies are now approved to certify product 

performance and report data to the Agency. By year’s end, over 

15,000 products were certified and an additional 10,000 were 

registered for verification testing purposes. Verification testing 

ramped up and 53 models were disqualified. This emphasis on 

testing and product review bolsters the integrity of the program 

and reinforces consumer confidence in the ENERGY STAR brand. 

Fig. 2. More than 4 Billion ENERGY STAR Qualified Products 

Purchased Since 2000

*Lighting category does not include purchases of compact fluorescent bulbs.

HVAC and Other Lighting* Home Office Equipment

Appliances Home Electronics Office Equipment

4.5

4.0

3.5

3.0

2.5

2.0

1.5

1.0

0.5

0

Units Purchased (Billions)

Change the World, Start with ENERGY STAR Campaign. 

American families continue to help protect the environment 

as part of EPA’s Change the World, Start with ENERGY STAR 

national campaign. Through 2011, nearly 3 million people took 

the ENERGY STAR Pledge, committing to make energy-efficient 

changes at home. Kids across the country helped their families 

save energy through partnerships with Boys & Girls Clubs of 

America and DoSomething.org. The Be an ENERGY STAR Video 

Challenge gave people the opportunity to share their stories 

and vote on their favorites through social media. Also, the 

ENERGY STARs Across America map highlighted more than 70 

partners and 800 events nationwide, and helped people learn 

more about saving energy—all part of the growing national 

movement to help protect the climate through ENERGY STAR. 

ENERGY STAR FOR HOMES 

Today the American dream of home ownership is alive and 

well, with special emphasis on getting the most value from the 

investments we make in our homes. Through ENERGY STAR, 

EPA works to increase the energy efficiency of the nation’s 

new and existing housing stock, while reducing Americans’ 

utility bills and helping to protect the environment. 

Transition to New Requirements for ENERGY STAR 

Certified Homes. EPA began phasing in new, more rigorous 

requirements for ENERGY STAR certified homes in 2011. Once 

the new requirements are fully implemented in 2012, these 

homes will be at least 15% more efficient than those built to the 

2009 International Energy Conservation Code (IECC), and will 

include additional features to deliver a performance advantage 

of up to 30% compared to typical new homes. Many leading 

home builders have already committed to building to EPA’s 

new requirements. More than 127,000 new homes earned the 

ENERGY STAR in 2011, bringing the total number of certified 

homes to more than 1.3 million (see Fig. 3).

ENERGY STAR for New Multifamily High-Rise Buildings. New 

and substantially rehabilitated multifamily high-rise buildings 

became eligible to earn the ENERGY STAR for the first time in 

2011, giving property owners the opportunity to increase asset 

value and offer tenants more efficient, comfortable homes. In 

2011, 733 units were completed for a total of 2,605 units since 

the inception of the program. These high-rise buildings must 

meet EPA’s energy efficiency guidelines and be designed to be 

at least 15% more efficient than the building energy code. 

Home Performance with ENERGY STAR. In 2011, more than 

50,000 homes were improved through the whole house retrofit 

program, Home Performance with ENERGY STAR (HPwES). 

This work was performed by 50 locally sponsored programs, 

including 13 new programs launched in 2011, and over 1,800 

participating contractors across the nation. Since the program’s 

inception, more than 150,000 homes have been improved 

through HPwES. On October 1, 2011, management of HPwES 

was officially transferred to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Energy Efficiency Guidance and Tools for Homeowners. More than 

1.3 million Americans visited the ENERGY STAR website in 2011 

to find trusted information about home efficiency improvements, 

and utilize the Home Energy Yardstick and Home Energy Advisor to 

5.0

*Lighting category does not include purchases of compact fluorescent bulbs.
*2001-2008 includes only buildings eligible to receive an ENERGY STAR energy performance 

score. 2009 and beyond includes those buildings as well as buildings eligible to receive an 

EUI (Energy Use Intensity).

Sq. Ft. Benchmarked Sq. Ft. Certified

40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

0

Building Space Square Footage (Billions)

assess their homes’ energy use and get recommendations to help Individual Buildings Compete and Post large Energy 

reduce utility bills and improve comfort. Reductions. The 2011 Battle of the Buildings competition 

featured teams from 245 buildings across the country working Affordable Housing. In 2011, more than 5,600 ENERGY STAR to save the most energy in one year through team work, certified homes were built within the affordable housing sector educational campaigns, operational changes, and equipment using funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban replacements. The building teams saved $5.2 million on annual Development’s HOME program. In addition, more than 320 utility bills, with the top 10 contestants reducing energy by Habitat for Humanity affiliates nationwide built nearly 1,700 at least 30%, and the winner achieving an impressive 63% in ENERGY STAR certified homes for low-income families.

savings. Best practices continue to accumulate and spread 

ENERGY STAR FOR BUSINESS throughout organizations’ portfolios. 

Benchmarking As Standard Business Practice. EPA Leading organizations continue to build the business and estimates the energy use of 35 billion square feet or close environmental case for improving energy efficiency in the to 40% of U.S. commercial building space has been tracked buildings where we work, play, and learn. They are adopting and benchmarked through EPA’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio strategies, technologies, and practices to increase the ManagerTM—representing a remarkable 50% increase from efficiency of U.S. buildings and plants based on EPA’s proven the previous year (see Fig. 4). The growth in benchmarking ENERGY STAR framework. These leaders are sharing successes is a result of EPA’s strategic partnerships with public and and demonstrating energy efficiency solutions through one of private sector organizations, including energy disclosure and the largest and most diverse networks in the country. benchmarking laws in local jurisdictions requiring Portfolio ENERGY STAR Certification for Top Performance. In another Manager. EPA is helping them tap into the power of ENERGY record-setting year, more than 7,500 buildings and plants were STAR to develop energy efficiency programs and policies, as certified as ENERGY STAR, for a total of nearly 16,500 buildings. well as educational campaigns. Portfolio Manager and the Verified by independently licensed professional engineers or ENERGY STAR energy performance scale, introduced over a registered architects, ENERGY STAR certified buildings use 35% decade ago, have helped establish the importance of charting less energy and are responsible for 35% fewer GHG emissions a successful path for measurable improvement. than average buildings. These certified buildings act as models New levels of Industrial Efficiency. After nearly a decade to drive the market toward ever greater efficiency. of energy efficiency work with the cement sector, EPA re- Significant Portfolio-Wide Savings. More than 200 leading benchmarked the energy performance of U.S. cement plants, companies and school districts have been recognized as revealing dramatic improvements in energy efficiency across ENERGY STAR Leaders for portfolio-wide energy savings. the industry, including a 13% improvement in energy intensity. For the first time an organization achieved a 60% portfolio- In 2011, EPA expanded the use of ENERGY STAR tools in wide improvement milestone in 2011, and nearly half of the the concrete manufacturing, dairy processing, and printing organizations have reached a milestone reduction of 20% or industries. A record number of industrial plants committed to more. Energy management strategies—such as executive the ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry, and 60 plants met or commitment; active involvement of staff, tenants, or students; exceeded their targets in 2011 by achieving a 10% reduction in and investment in new technologies—were integral to their energy intensity, saving 16 trillion Btu in energy and preventing 

success. the equivalent of nearly 1 million metric tons of GHG emissions.

Fig. 3. More than 1.3 Million Homes Nationwide Have Earned Fig. 4. Steady Growth in Building Space Benchmarked 

the ENERGY STAR label and Certified Number of Homes to Earn the ENERGY STAR

Cumulative Homes Built Annual Homes Built

*The decrease in the number of homes certified reflects the overall decrease in the total 

number of homes built.
ENERGY STAR® AWARD WINNERS

CORPORATE HEI Hotels & Resorts SCIenergy D.R. Wastchak, LLC Southern Maryland Electric 

COMMITMENT Norwalk, CT Atlanta, GA Tempe, AZ Cooperative (SMECO) 

Hughesville, MD Hines Southern California Edison Des Moines Public Sears Holdings Corporation Houston, TX Company Schools Staples, Inc. Hoffman Estates, IL Rosemead, CA Des Moines, IA Framingham, MA ITW Food Equipment Group LLC 

SUSTAINED ExCEllENCE Troy, OH Southern Energy DuctTesters, Inc. The Boeing Company 

Management Modesto, CA Chicago, IL 3M J. C. Penney Company, Inc. Morrisville, NC St. Paul, MN Plano, TX Eastman Chemical The E Group, a Division of 

Sponsors of Northeast Energy Company FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. Andersen Corporation Joint Management Committee Efficiency Partnerships, Inc. Kingsport, TN Akron, OH Bayport, MN West Dennis, MA (NEEP) Efficiency Vermont Utah Building Energy Efficiency APS (Arizona Public Service) Jones Lang LaSalle Lexington, MA Burlington, VT Strategies Phoenix, AZ Chicago, IL TIAA-CREF Salt Lake City, UT El Paso Electric ArcelorMittal USA KB Home New York, NY El Paso, TX Utah Home Performance Chicago, IL Los Angeles, CA Toyota Motor Engineering Salt Lake City, UT EnergyCAP, Inc. Austin Energy Kohl’s Department Stores, Inc. & Manufacturing North State College, PA Vermont Gas Systems Austin, TX Menomonee Falls, WI America, Inc. Burlington, VT Erlanger, KY Entergy Texas Bentall Kennedy (US) Loudoun County Public Schools Beaumont, TX Seattle, WA Broadlands, VA TRANSWESTERN AWARDS FOR 

Houston, TX Fanning/Howey Bosch Home Appliances Lowe’s Companies, Inc. ExCEllENCE Associates, Inc. Irvine, CA Mooresville, NC USAA Real Estate Celina, OH Company ENERGY STAR Promotion

Building Owners and Managers Manitowoc Foodservice San Antonio, TX General Motors New Port Richey, FL Central Florida Energy Efficiency Association (BOMA) Company Whirlpool Corporation Alliance International 

Washington, DC Merck & Co., Inc. Benton Harbor, MI Detroit, MI Orlando, FL

Whitehouse Station, NJ Kentucky Housing Xcel Energy Design Tech Homes CalPortland Company New Jersey Board of Public Corporation Spring, TX Glendora, CA Minneapolis, MN Utilities Frankfort, KY Good Earth Lighting, Inc. CBRE Trenton, NJ PARTNER OF THE YEAR KPPC – Kentucky Pollution Wheeling, IL Los Angeles, CA New Mexico Gas Company Prevention Center AEP Ohio CenterPoint Energy Albuquerque, NM Louisville, KY Hoshizaki America, Inc. 

Columbus, OH Peachtree City, GA Houston, TX New York State Energy Research LG Electronics, Inc. Air-King, Ltd. Meritage Homes Ecova, Inc. and Development Authority Englewood Cliffs, NJ West Chester, PA Scottsdale, AZ Spokane, WA (NYSERDA) LG&E and KU Albany, NY AVR Homebuilders National Grid Energy Education, Inc. Louisville, KY Yonkers, NY New York-Presbyterian Hospital Waltham, MA Dallas, TX Liberty Property Trust New York, NY Beacon Capital Partners, LLC Malvern, PA North Carolina Energy Efficiency Energy Inspectors Boston, MA Las Vegas, NV Nissan North America, Inc. Alliance 

Long Island Power Authority Smyrna, TN Boone, NC Brown Printing Company Energy Trust of Oregon (LIPA) Waseca, MN Portland, OR Oncor Uniondale, NY Northwest Energy Efficiency 

Dallas, TX Council Cleveland Clinic EnergyLogic Magic Valley Electric Seattle, WA Cleveland, OH Berthoud, CO Panasonic Home & Environment Cooperative, Inc 

Company Colgate-Palmolive Mercedes, TX Sea Gull Lighting Products LLC 

Evergreen Public Schools Secaucus, NJ Riverside, NJ Company Vancouver, WA NVR, Inc. New York, NY PepsiCo, Inc. Reston, VA Affordable Housing Focus on Energy Purchase, NY Columbia Gas of Ohio Middleton, WI PECO Habitat for Humanity of Metro Columbus, OH PNM Philadelphia, PA Denver Food Lion Family, Bloom, and Albuquerque, NM ComEd Denver, CO Bottom Dollar Food ProVia Chicago, IL Salisbury, NC Public Service Company of Sugarcreek, OH Milford Housing Development 

Oklahoma (PSO) Commonwealth of Corporation GE Appliances & Lighting Salt Lake City School Tulsa, OK Kentucky Milford, DE Louisville, KY District Frankfort, KY Questar Gas Company Salt Lake City, UT Gresham-Barlow School District Energy-Efficient Product Design Salt Lake City, UT Constellation Energy/Baltimore Gresham, OR Samsung Electronics Co., Gas and Electric Company DIRECTV Raytheon Company Ltd. Habitat for Humanity of Greater (BGE) El Segundo, CA Waltham, MA Suwon, South Korea Nashville Baltimore, MD Sharp Electronics Corporation Nashville, TN Saint-Gobain Scotsman Ice Systems Consumers Energy Mahwah, NJ Valley Forge, PA Vernon Hills, IL Hanesbrands Inc. Jackson, MI Retailing Winston-Salem, NC

Nationwide Marketing Group 

Winston-Salem, NC

For more information, visit www.energystar.gov

All values and figures for 2011 are preliminary as of March 1, 2012. Source for all figures: EPA Climate Protection Partnerships Division.