The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released the following statement from Ben Evans, Federal Legislative Director, after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) released a Memorandum of Agreement to move primary oversight and management of the ENERGY STAR program from the EPA to the DOE.
“USGBC strongly supports ENERGY STAR, which is one of the most successful public-private partnerships in U.S. history and is delivering massive energy cost savings to Americans while sharply reducing energy demand on the grid. The EPA has been hugely successful in creating and managing ENERGY STAR for more than three decades, saving businesses and organizations more than $40 billion in energy costs annually.
“The DOE has a significant role in reducing energy waste through successful programs such as the Better Buildings initiative. While the DOE has been a supporting partner with the EPA in ENERGY STAR, we have concerns about abruptly moving the entire program to the DOE, particularly after Congress demonstrated strong bipartisan support for keeping ENERGY STAR at the EPA through full funding in the FY2026 appropriations process. That bipartisan funding put ENERGY STAR on a path toward more stable, predictable budgets and operations. Moving the program to the DOE raises questions about how the program will be funded in the future and whether it will maintain its current scope of operations.
“Disruptions or reductions in ENERGY STAR operations could have significant economic consequences because the program is embedded in so many sectors of the U.S. economy, including new home construction, commercial real estate, manufacturing facilities, and consumer products. Utilities and state and local governments across the country use ENERGY STAR in energy-efficiency programs. Retailers and product manufacturers have tens of millions of ENERGY STAR-labeled products on store shelves, in warehouses, on factory lines and under development. Thousands of commercial real estate companies, homebuilders, and industrial facilities rely on ENERGY STAR to improve their properties and increase value.
“Given the EPA’s statutory responsibility and strong institutional knowledge in managing the program, a change of this magnitude calls for more transparency, oversight, and public engagement. ENERGY STAR is an incredibly valuable public asset, and its value relies on continued public trust in the ENERGY STAR brand that can only be maintained with steady investment and leadership. ENERGY STAR partner organizations, the public and Congress need to know more about how the DOE would operate and fund the program moving forward.”
Source: U.S. Green Building Council
