vitD srAr.

* J- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency	n-p-0010

October 28, 2010

Iwi

•	U • O • ^1 I V11 vl 111ICI I LCI I I I UlUl/ll

	 \ Office of Inspector General

u!

At a Glance

Catalyst for Improving the Environment

Why We Did This Review

Since 2006, the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Office of
Inspector General has
conducted three evaluations
of selected aspects of the
ENERGY STAR program.
This report summarizes past
findings that remain relevant
and identifies design and
management challenges that
present risks to the program's
integrity as a means of
greenhouse gas avoidance and
as a credible tool to promote
energy efficiency and
consumer savings.

Background

ENERGY STAR is a
voluntary program designed to
help businesses and
individuals enhance their
energy efficiency. In 1996,
EPA partnered with the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE)
to promote the ENERGY
STAR label and broaden the
product coverage.

For further information,
contact our Office of
Congressional, Public Affairs
and Management at
(202) 566-2391.

To view the full report,
click on the following link:
www.epa.qov/oiq/reports/2011/
20101028-11-P-0010.pdf

ENERGY STAR Label Needs to Assure
Superior Energy Conservation Performance

What We Found

EPA's implementation of the ENERGY STAR program has become inconsistent
with the program's authorized purpose: to achieve environmental benefits by
identifying and promoting energy-efficient products and practices that meet the
highest energy conservation standards. We believe the ENERGY STAR program
has sought to maximize the number of qualified products available at the expense
of identifying products and practices that maximize energy efficiency.

We previously found that EPA could not assure that the purchase of ENERGY
STAR products and adoption of ENERGY STAR practices actually deliver the
energy or greenhouse gas emission savings that EPA reports annually, or that
consumers are purchasing the most energy-efficient products on the market. We
found that the design and execution of the ENERGY STAR program ensured
neither the integrity of the label nor the achievement of greenhouse gas emission
savings. Products historically qualified for the ENERGY STAR label based on
manufacturer self-certification rather than EPA testing.

In 2009, EPA and DOE signed a new memorandum of understanding to enhance
and expand federal programs that advance energy efficiency. These enhancements
include adding new product categories to the program, instituting new measures
to ensure that ENERGY STAR specifications are tightened as necessary to
consistently represent top performing products, and enhancing the qualification
and verification testing of ENERGY STAR products. Because these changes have
not yet occurred, their effectiveness remains to be determined.

What We Recommend

We recommend that the Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation develop a
strategic vision and program design that assures that the ENERGY STAR label
represents superior energy conservation performance. We also recommend that
the Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation develop a set of goals and valid
and reliable measures that can accurately inform shareholders and the public of
the benefits of the program. EPA disagreed with many of our conclusions, but
concurred with the proposed recommendations. Based on the Agency's comments
to our draft report, we changed our first recommendation to assure that the
Agency's strategic vision and design complies with the intent of the Energy
Policy Act of 2005.

-------