At ILLUME, many of us have built our careers around energy efficiency. For some, like our Co-Founder Sara Conzemius, that journey began with ENERGY STAR®. Her first role in the industry was managing ENERGY STAR products for Wisconsin’s Focus on Energy program—standing in a hardware store aisle, encouraging people to try the new (and famously awkward) spiral CFL bulbs. What started with early product efforts like these grew into a nationally recognized force for energy efficiency.
For over 30 years, ENERGY STAR has helped utilities, governments, manufacturers, and everyday consumers make smarter, cleaner choices. That’s why the news that the program may be eliminated as soon as September 2025 hits hard, and why we believe this moment calls for both reflection and action.
A Voluntary Program That Delivered
ENERGY STAR is a model for how voluntary, market-based programs can drive major change. Established in 1992, it offered a clear and credible way to identify the most energy-efficient products—no mandates, just smart market signaling. And it worked.
More than 75 product categories, hundreds of utilities and nonprofits, and over 16,000 companies and organizations have relied on the ENERGY STAR label. With 90% of U.S. households recognizing the brand, it’s become one of the most trusted marks in the country. The program is estimated to have saved 5 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity and 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, while helping consumers avoid billions in utility costs.
More than a label, ENERGY STAR helped transform the market. It raised efficiency expectations, influenced codes and standards, and shifted entire product categories forward. It drove innovation across industries and gave utilities a powerful tool for simplifying efficiency for customers. Over time, it became a signal of quality, trust, and continuous improvement.
What Happens if ENERGY STAR Ends?
With the program slated for elimination and staff directed to ramp down operations, several critical risks emerge:
Consumer confusion and higher costs
ENERGY STAR makes it easy for consumers to choose efficient products. Without it, many will assume “new” equals efficient, leading to unintentional purchases of less efficient products and higher energy bills.
Disruption to utility programs
Many rebate and incentive programs are built on ENERGY STAR standards. Removing that foundation introduces administrative complexity and could undermine or stall incentive delivery.
Disruption to building benchmarking and emissions compliance
Portfolio Manager, EPA’s ENERGY STAR-based benchmarking tool, is the standard for measuring building performance. Its potential loss threatens not only energy tracking and public disclosure but also regulatory compliance in cities and states that rely on it.
Job losses and market disruption
Thousands of jobs—from federal workers and contractors to engineers, product designers, and testing specialists—exist because ENERGY STAR drives demand for innovation. If the program is dismantled, the impact will be felt across the entire energy efficiency sector.
Weakened resilience
under growing demand
As electricity use rises—driven by electrification, data centers, and population growth—programs like ENERGY STAR are essential for reducing load. Ending one of the nation’s most successful voluntary efficiency efforts during rapid growth undermines grid resilience and sends a conflicting signal about our readiness to meet that demand.
Slowed innovation and weaker standards
ENERGY STAR continually pushes manufacturers to improve product efficiency. Without this driver, innovation could stall, and future federal standards may lack the data and momentum to evolve.
Loss of competitive pressure
ENERGY STAR sets the bar, and manufacturers race to meet it—no one wants to be left off the qualified list. Without that shared benchmark, the incentive to lead on efficiency weakens.
Risk of backsliding
The threat isn’t just stagnation. Recent efforts to roll back federal standards for lighting and appliances make ENERGY STAR’s disappearance even more consequential. Without it, the market may not just plateau, it could move backward.
Erosion of consumer trust
ENERGY STAR not only signals efficiency, it also ensures performance and reliability. Over time, it helped set clear expectations for quality, reducing the risk of disappointing first experiences with new technologies. Without this safeguard, future innovations may struggle to gain traction.
So What Can Be Done?
There’s no direct replacement for ENERGY STAR. Its strength comes from combining technical credibility, market trust, and federal authority into a single recognizable standard. But its potential loss is prompting important conversations across the industry, and there’s growing momentum to understand what it will take to fill the gap.
Discussions are beginning: How do we maintain consistent product qualifications? Who sets shared standards? How can utilities continue to guide customers towards efficient choices?
At ILLUME, we’re joining peers in exploring these questions, and there’s a shared urgency to respond with purpose.
Ideas being explored include:
- Interim product lists and specification archives
- Regional or nonprofit-led labeling systems
- New collaborative models for standard-setting and verification
- Utility or manufacturer-funded efforts to support consistent programming
What comes next may look different, but if we act together, it can carry forward ENERGY STAR’s impact. This is our chance to build a more resilient, decentralized framework for the future of energy efficiency.
Immediate Needs & Strategic Considerations
As we face this change, we see three key areas where attention is needed:
Immediate Needs for Utilities
- Redesign programs that rely on ENERGY STAR standards
- Help customers navigate a murkier product landscape
- Find new ways to measure and drive energy savings, including market transformation strategies
- Support commercial customers with benchmarking and emissions compliance, especially where Portfolio Manager is tied to regulation
- Share tools and guidance across the industry—such as guides, web services, or dedicated consultants—to support performance tracking during the transition
- Manage short-term continuity: some utilities are already backing up ENERGY STAR product lists or developing internal tools to keep programs running. These stopgaps highlight the need for coordinated long-term solutions.
Opportunities for Industry Coordination
- Align across regions on shared product standards
- Promote and maintain alternative qualified product lists and tools
- Work collectively to preserve what ENERGY STAR offers: simplicity, credibility, and consistency
Long-Term Policy Advocacy
- Champion stable, bipartisan infrastructure that supports enduring energy efficiency
- Elevate new leaders who can drive standard-setting and advance energy policies that put consumers first
Final Reflections
ENERGY STAR works. It is widely adopted, industry-supported, and impactful without being mandated. It makes energy efficiency accessible and desirable. That’s no small feat, and it’s why the loss of the program feels personal to so many of us in the field.
But progress doesn’t end here.
The principles that power ENERGY STAR—trust, clarity, collaboration, innovation, and impact—can guide what comes next. We believe the energy efficiency community is ready to adapt, reimagine, and lead.
At ILLUME, we’re committed to being part of that process.
If you’re grappling with how this change may impact your programs or goals, we’re here to help.
