ENERGY STAR

The ENERGY STAR program was initiated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1992 as a voluntary labeling program to identify energy efficient products that exceed minimum national efficiency standards with the goal of significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions.  

In 1996, EPA created a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (U.S. DOE) to promote the ENERGY STAR label.  Since then, the ENERGY STAR program has been expanded to cover new homes, most of the buildings sector, residential heating and cooling equipment, lighting and consumer electronics.  For more information about EnergyGuide and ENERGY STAR labels visit the US DOE Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) website.

EnergyGuide

The EnergyGuide label was established in the 1970’s as a mandatory compliance program for all new appliances.  The EnergyGuide label displays the estimated annual operating cost, as well as the cost of operating models with the highest and lowest energy consumption.