Energy Star, a popular program that highlights energy-efficient appliances from furnaces to dishwashers, is reportedly on the chopping block in the U.S.
It and other divisions that oversee climate change and energy efficiency would be eliminated as part of the Trump administration’s reorganization of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Washington Post and the New York Times reported earlier this month.
That could affect the labels Canadians rely on to know what products will help them save on energy bills, say observers such as Sarah Riddell, policy research associate with the non-profit Efficiency Canada.
“They can see … just with that one symbol that it’s going to be one of the top performers in terms of energy efficiency,” she said.
But will that symbol still exist after the U.S. program is gone?
While Energy Star Canada is administered by the Canadian government, it relies on U.S. standards, certification and testing for many products — and it’s not clear how it will operate without the U.S. program.
What is Energy Star?
Energy Star is a symbol and label that highlights energy efficiency under a program administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) since 1992. Its goal was to identify and promote energy-efficient products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The label is applied to:
- Products such as appliances, windows and doors.
- Buildings, including homes, offices and industrial plants.
To qualify, products must be tested by certified third-party labs and found to meet a certain energy efficiency standard. Some are also audited and re-tested regularly.
For buildings, a free online tool called Energy Star Portfolio Manager helps measure and track energy performance in commercial buildings, and certifies those that perform among the top 25 per cent of similar buildings across the U.S. Certified homes must be at least 10 per cent more efficient than those built to code.
According to the program’s website, Energy Star has so far saved an estimated 5 trillion kWh of electricity, $500 billion in energy costs and 4 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
How Energy Star Canada works
Energy Star Canada, introduced in 2001, is technically administered by Natural Resources Canada. But it’s a collaboration with the U.S. EPA.
To get an Energy Star Canada certification, products register with the U.S. agency, and are tested in EPA-certified labs to see if they meet Energy Star standards, Natural Resources Canada says – in other words, it’s usually identical to Energy Star certification, and Canadian certification is automatic for U.S.-certified products.
Riddell’s job is to see how Canada’s standards for appliances and equipment compare to international benchmarks, and to lobby for higher standards in Canada.
She said there are two areas where Canada’s program is independent of the U.S. program, and sets its own standards:
- A few product categories, such as heat and energy recovery ventilators (which bring fresh air into an energy efficient building without losing heat in the process), which the U.S. doesn’t certify.
- Energy Star certification for new homes.
The province reduced its energy efficiency regulations for building new homes earlier this year. A report from Saskatoon city hall says higher standards need to be met.
Why it matters
A 2022 Ipsos survey commissioned by the federal government found 86 per cent of Canadian respondents knew about Energy Star and 75 per cent think Energy Star–certified homes offer better value than uncertified homes.
According to the most recent Energy Star in Canada report, in 2022, over 3,500 new homes in Canada got Energy Star certification, and those homes were, on average, 20 per cent more efficient than other new homes, saving their residents up to $300 a year in utility costs.
Riddell said the program is simple and essential for understanding the efficiency of different products.
While some products also have to meet minimum energy efficiency standards, not all do. And while other energy efficiency labels such as EnergyGuide exist for some products, Riddell said they tend to be more complicated.
Meanwhile, for some kinds of products such as doors, windows, pool pumps and EV chargers that aren’t covered by Energuide, Riddell said, “Energy Star labelling is really the only way to know in the store that the product that you’re buying is energy efficient.”
Buildings are the third-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Canada by economic sector, after oil and gas and transportation. And buildings’ emissions come almost entirely from space heating, water heating and other appliances in that order.
Besides helping consumers choose money-saving homes and products, certification is used by green rebate programs across Canada to determine which products are efficient enough to be eligible.
While the federal Greener Homes Grant is over, Riddell said there are still 64 different rebate and incentive programs across the country (e.g. from provincial governments and utilities) that rely on Energy Star.
“Energy efficiency is really essential as we electrify Canada towards net zero,” she said, adding that it can both cut Canadians’ utility bills, and reduce the need to build more expensive electricity.
If the U.S. cancels Energy Star, how will Canadians be affected?
When asked about this, Natural Resources Canada responded by email, “We are assessing the potential impacts on operations in Canada.”
Riddell said in the short run, there’s a possibility that the department could continue to run the program in Canada without the EPA, if the EPA allows it to use the Energy Star name and symbol, which are trademarked by the EPA.
“In the longer run,” she added, “there is the question of whether Natural Resources Canada would have the capacity to regularly update the Energy Star efficiency specifications for the more than 80 different types of products that are eligible for Energy Star in Canada.”
She added that only nine of the energy efficiency testing labs are in Canada, while 60 are in the U.S.
Efficiency Manitoba, the Crown corporation that began operating in 2020, is on the verge of receiving a new mandate from the provincial government that will expand its scope beyond reducing energy consumption to also focusing on demand.
That said, Canada has managed to run the program independently for some entire product categories such as energy and heat recovery ventilators. “So it’s very promising, showing what Canada’s able to do with Energy Star even without the U.S.,” Riddell said.
If Canada can’t keep the program up, she thinks that could make it hard for green rebate programs to determine what products are eligible.
The loss of the Energy Star Portfolio Manager online tool to evaluate the energy efficiency of commercial buildings, including for green building certification programs such as LEED and BOMA BEST, could also be a problem, Riddell said.
“That’s very widely used across Canada to monitor, rate and optimize more than 40,000 commercial and industrial buildings energy use, and it’s been doing so for the past 12 years.”
