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News Releases from Region 06

Five Houston-Area Organizations Earn 2018 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year Honors

04/04/2018
Contact Information: 
Jennah Durant or Joe Hubbard (R6Press@epa.gov)
214 665-2200

DALLAS – (April 4, 2018) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) are honoring four Houston organizations and one in Beaumont, Texas, as ENERGY STAR Partners of the Year. CenterPoint Energy, Hines, Habitat for Humanity, and Memorial Hermann Health System of Houston and Entergy Texas of Beaumont are among 163 honorees nationwide.

These ENERGY STAR partners – including Fortune 500 companies, schools, hospitals, retailers, manufacturers, home builders, and commercial building owners and operators – are honored for their outstanding contributions to public health and the environment. These enterprises will be named ENERGY STAR Partners of the Year for demonstrating national leadership in cost-saving energy efficient solutions. Recipients of the 2018 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Award come from 35 states and include: Best Buy, Eastman Chemical, Energy Inspectors, Inc., Entergy Mississippi, Food Lion, and GE Lighting.

The five Houston-area organizations earned these awards:

  • CenterPoint Energy: Sustained Excellence for Energy Efficiency Program Delivery
  • Hines: Energy Efficiency Program Delivery
  • Habitat for Humanity: Sustained Excellence for New Home Builder
  • Memorial Hermann Health System: Sustained Excellence for Energy Management
  • Entergy Texas: Energy Efficiency Program Delivery

The awards will be presented in Washington, D.C., at the Washington Hilton Hotel on April 20. EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation Bill Wehrum, together with CMS Energy CEO Patti Poppe, will deliver keynote presentations.

“The 2018 ENERGY STAR Partners of the Year have demonstrated real leadership, showing how American families and businesses can save energy, save money, and reduce air emissions,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Air and Radian Bill Wehrum.

For over 25 years, EPA’s ENERGY STAR program has been America’s resource for saving energy and protecting the environment. In 2016 alone, ENERGY STAR certified products, homes, buildings, and plants helped Americans save over $30 billion in energy costs and approximately 400 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity while achieving broad emissions reductions.

Examples of how ENERGY STAR award winners are taking action:

(Richfield, MN) Best Buy Co., Inc. sold enough ENERGY STAR certified products since 2009 to save customers over $500 million on utility bills. Best Buy played an ENERGY STAR educational video up to eight times per hour in more than 1,000 stores. More than 150,000 Best Buy associates completed an online ENERGY STAR training to help customers find ENERGY STAR certified products.

(Kingsport, TN) Eastman Chemical Company saved $46 million in 2017 with more than 125 energy saving projects. Eastman also educated employees, schools and the public about saving energy through an innovative campaign called “Energy efficiency. It’s only natural.” Eastman promoted the ENERGY STAR’s Light the Moment campaign and created an animated video on selecting light bulbs for Energy Awareness Month.

(Las Vegas, NV) Energy Inspectors, Inc. offers residential energy efficiency consulting, home energy rating, and construction quality assurance, helping some of the largest builders in the U.S certify their homes as ENERGY STAR. Since 1996, Energy Inspectors has provided verification services for more than 200,000 ENERGY STAR certified homes.

(Jackson, MS) Entergy Mississippi, Inc., an electric utility serving approximately 447,000 customers, distributed more than 75,000 ENERGY STAR certified LED bulbs to limited income residents, an increase of 72 percent from 2016. Entergy Mississippi conducted nearly 5000 visual home energy audits, resulting in nearly 50,000 installed ENERGY STAR certified bulbs. Entergy Mississippi also utilized ENERGY STAR promotional materials including appliance clings, tent cards, channel cards, and incentive brochures to educate customers.

(Salisbury, NC). Food Lion, a food retailer with more than 1,000 grocery stores across the U.S., has been an ENERGY STAR partner since 2000. Since partnering with ENERGY STAR, Food Lion’s has reduced its energy consumption nearly 30 percent per square foot. Over 90 percent of Food Lion stores have been ENERGY STAR certified at least once. In 2016, Food Lion invested over $6 million to upgrade lighting with LEDs for more than 100 stores in one year.

(East Cleveland, OH) GE Lighting, a longstanding ENERGY STAR partner, teamed up with 28 retailers and many utilities to promote ENERGY STAR through store displays, coupons, bulb giveaways, demos, and retail markdown programs. GE Lighting lists 620 ENERGY STAR certified LED products with continued sales growth year over year. In 2017 GE Lighting donated over 73,000 ENERGY STAR LEDs to charities to reduce energy bills for those in need.

Read more about each of the award winner's achievements

About ENERGY STAR

ENERGY STAR® is the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency, providing simple, credible, and unbiased information that consumers and businesses rely on to make well-informed decisions. Thousands of industrial, commercial, utility, state, and local organizations—including more than 40 percent of the Fortune 500®—rely on their partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to deliver cost-saving energy efficiency solutions. Together, since 1992, ENERGY STAR and its partners have helped save American families and businesses over $450 billion and over 3.5 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity while also achieving broad emissions reductions – all through voluntary action.

Join the millions already making a difference at energystar.gov. More background information about ENERGY STAR can be found at energystar.gov/about and energystar.gov/numbers.

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