If ENERGY STAR® Goes Dark, What’s Your Plan B?

With recent reports of the federal government’s plan to scrap the ENERGY STAR® program, the future of one of the EPA’s most important consumer and commercial initiatives is now in question. The longstanding ENERGY STAR initiative has promoted energy efficiency for appliances, served as the basis for numerous ancillary businesses, and provided a centralized location for building benchmarking data through their ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® (ESPM) program for decades

Key features of ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager

• Benchmarking: Users can compare a building’s energy performance against national medians or similar buildings using the 1–100 ENERGY STAR score. A score of 50 represents median performance, while a score of 75 or higher indicates top performance and eligibility for ENERGY STAR certification. 
• Comprehensive tracking: The tool allows tracking of energy, water, waste, and greenhouse gas emissions, providing over 100 performance metrics to assess and manage building efficiency. 
• Data sharing and reporting: Users can share performance data with others, generate custom reports, and use the tool to meet various reporting requirements, including those for LEED certification and local benchmarking mandates.

Benefits for building owners

• Cost savings: ENERGY STAR certified buildings use, on average, 35% less energy than typical buildings, leading to significant cost savings. 
• Environmental impact: By improving energy efficiency, buildings reduce greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to environmental protection efforts. 
• Market advantage: Certified buildings often have higher occupancy rates and can command higher rental rates, offering a competitive edge in the real estate market.

The importance of benchmarking

Energy benchmarking is widely used across various industries to evaluate and improve energy performance. It involves comparing a facility’s energy performance against industry standards, best practices, or similar facilities. Here’s a detailed breakdown of how it’s used:

• Performance evaluation:  Benchmarking helps companies compare their energy use to peers or industry standards, revealing inefficiencies and guiding improvement goals. 
• Cost and efficiency gains: It identifies energy waste in operations or equipment, supporting cost reduction through better practices or upgrades. 
• Regulatory compliance: Many cities and states utilize ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager as their system of record for benchmarking data as part of reporting mandates.

About ENERGY STAR

Established in 1992, ENERGY STAR has been instrumental in helping consumers and businesses identify energy-efficient products, leading to significant cost savings and environmental benefits. The program has saved over $500 billion in energy costs, prevented approximately 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, and saved households about $450 annually by choosing ENERGY STAR-certified products.

The administration’s termination proposal aligns with broader deregulation efforts, aiming to reduce what it perceives as governmental overreach in environmental regulations. However, critics argue that ENERGY STAR is central to the administration’s goal of reducing the cost of energy for American citizens. Potential elimination would also negatively affect the many private businesses and manufacturers who have invested heavily in energy efficient technologies.

The EPA has outlined specific timelines for phasing out certain aspects of the ENERGY STAR program, with certifications for some appliances ceasing as quickly as July of 2025. This would mark a significant shift in the U.S. approach to energy efficiency and environmental policy, with potential long-term implications for consumers, manufacturers, and the environment.

What next?

As ENERGY STAR’s future becomes uncertain, private alternatives are available to fill the gap. The right tool depends on your organization’s goals: whether it’s deep financial control, compliance, sustainability, or operational excellence.

If you need strong utility billing and cost control, EnergyCAP is a top choice—it offers automation, validation, and detailed financial oversight. For companies focused on investor-grade reporting, look for platforms and consultants aligned with relevant standards like GRESB and CDP. If real–time building management and equipment-specific analytics are your priority, building management system (BMS) software pairs beautifully with Smart Analytics – bringing enhanced visibility and contextualized utility data together to optimize building performance and support data-driven energy strategies.

EnergyCAP as a strategic alternative to ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager

SPM remains a foundational tool for benchmarking, and we strongly support its continued use. However, for organizations seeking to build on ESPM’s strengths and gain a more comprehensive view of their energy consumption, EnergyCAP delivers an enterprise-grade solution that complements and extends beyond ESPM’s capabilities.

EnergyCAP centralizes energy and commodity data across diverse systems and locations, creating a unified, validated source of truth that serves the unique needs of finance, sustainability, and energy teams alike. It automates utility bill processing across all major formats and commodities, performs in-depth audits, validates costs, and integrates seamlessly with accounts payable systems—giving finance professionals greater accuracy and control over utility spending.

Its benchmarking capabilities offer powerful tools such as Energy Use Intensity (EUI) comparisons, peer group analysis, and weather-normalized metrics that enable energy managers to evaluate true performance across facilities and time.

For sustainability leaders, EnergyCAP enables holistic tracking of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, water, and waste—all within a tailored reporting environment. Dashboards and scheduled reports simplify stakeholder communication and streamline ESG and regulatory compliance efforts.

By capturing verified usage and cost data, delivering advanced analytics with custom KPIs, and enabling integration with business intelligence tools like Tableau and Power BI, EnergyCAP helps organizations conserve resources through smarter decision-making, flagging costly billing errors, and proactively identifying the inefficiencies driving up energy usage. With built-in ENERGY STAR integration, it enhances the value ESPM brings to benchmarking and compliance, making EnergyCAP a natural next step for organizations ready to scale their impact.

We strongly hope that ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager remains available for generations to come. While these decisions are made, EnergyCAP is proactively deploying additional tools, both within our platform and free to the public, for organizations to compare performance against their peers. If you value the progress you’ve made through benchmarking with ESPM and want to build on that foundation, contact EnergyCAP to explore how we can help you maintain, and gain, momentum.