EPA, DOE Announce First Energy-Efficient Buildings to Get Energy Star Label

[EPA press release - June 9, 1999]

EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the first buildings nationwide to receive the new Energy Star label for outstanding energy efficiency. Today's label awards will be announced at the "Tenth Annual Energy Efficiency Forum: The Future of Energy Efficiency," today at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

"I congratulate the owners and managers of the first buildings to earn the Energy Star label," said EPA Administrator Carol M. Browner. "Every year, U.S. businesses pour at least $25 billion of profits down the drain in the form of wasted energy from inefficient buildings. Energy efficient buildings not only can save millions of dollars in savings for businesses, they also can help protect the health and environment of all Americans by reducing the pollution that contributes to global warming."

"This new tool will help businesses cut costs by promoting energy efficiency in the workplace," added U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson. "Now people will be able to see that saving energy is not only good for the environment and good for the country, but also good business."

The first 20 buildings to earn the Energy Star designation are:

  • the Occidental Chemical Center, Niagara Falls, N.Y.;
  • Centex Building, Dallas;
  • Denver Place, Plaza Tower and Manville Plaza, Denver;
  • Ridgehaven Green Building, San Diego;
  • Landmark II building and 6310 San Vicente, Los Angeles;
  • 2800 28th Street, Santa Monica, California;
  • Lockheed Martin, Orlando, Florida;
  • Emigrant Savings Bank and Foley Square Federal Office Building, New York City;
  • One State Street, Hartford, Connecticut;
  • Two Twenty Two Berkeley, Boston;
  • 20 Commerce Drive, Cranford, New Jersey;
  • 1811 and 2000 Bering, Houston;
  • Frank J. Lausche State Office Building, Cleveland;
  • International Finance Corporation Building, Washington, D.C.; and
  • Perimeter Center South, Atlanta.

EPA rates energy performance on actual energy use, and, for the first time, can equitably compare buildings nationwide by factors such as geographic location and level of business activity. Managers of any office building in the United States can use a new Internet-based tool to rate their energy performance on a uniform scale of zero to 100; ratings over 75 earn owners the right to display the Energy Star label.

The Energy Star Building label is the latest in a series of EPA common-sense, market-based partnership programs that spur investments in more energy efficient, cleaner technologies. Beginning with the Energy Star label program for computers in 1992, this initiative has expanded to include major appliances, residential windows, lighting fixtures, consumer electronics, heating and air conditioning systems, office equipment, and now, buildings.