EPA to End Energy Star: Report

Appliance industry defends the popular program

By Alan Wolf, YSN 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) intends to eliminate the 33-year-old Energy Star program, which designates energy efficient appliances and provides consumer rebates, tax credits and other incentives for purchasing them. 

The action was revealed by multiple news sources based on agency documents and leaked recordings, and is part of a broader EPA restructuring intended to cut staff and undo years of federal regulations designed to reduce energy consumption and slow climate change. 

According to The New York Times, the announcement was made during an EPA staff meeting last week, where Paul Gunning, director of the agency’s Office of Atmospheric Protection, told employees, “The Energy Star program and all the other climate work, outside of what’s required by statute, is being de-prioritized and eliminated.” 

Industry Support

Appliance retailers and manufacturers have largely supported the voluntary Energy Star program, which has saved shoppers $500 billion in energy costs and kept some 6 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. Launched under President George H.W. Bush, the program’s efficiency designations and ubiquitous blue labels have also served as a welcomed marketing tool and badge of honor for appliance makers and merchants, and contribute to more than $100 billion in annual product sales. 

In a March letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, dozens of trade associations and appliance and HVAC companies — including the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM), the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Bosch — wrote in part: “Eliminating [Energy Star] will not serve the American people. In fact, because the Energy Star brand is highly recognizable to consumers, it is likely that, should the program be eliminated, it will be supplanted by initiatives that drive results counter to the goals of this administration such as decreased features, functionality, performance or increased costs.” 

The decision to end the program follows the release of Zeldin’s 31-point action plan, announced in March, which he called “the greatest and most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history.” 

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