Frequently Asked Questions

ENERGY STAR is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices.

For the Home

Energy efficient choices can save families about a third on their energy bill with similar savings of greenhouse gas emissions, without sacrificing features, style or comfort. ENERGY STAR helps you make the energy efficient choice.

• If looking for new household products, look for ones that have earned the ENERGY STAR. They meet strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the EPA and US Department of Energy.
• If looking for a new home, look for one that has earned the ENERGY STAR.
• If looking to make larger improvements to your home, EPA offers tools and resources to help you plan and undertake projects to reduce your energy bills and improve home comfort

Green Seal is a non-profit organization dedicated to safeguarding the environment and transforming the marketplace by promoting the manufacture, purchase, and use of environmentally responsible products and services.

The "Green Seal" says that a product or service has been tested according to science-based procedures, that it works as well or better than others in its class, and that it has been evaluated without bias or conflict of interest. The Green "Seal of Approval" has come to stand for reliability, fairness, and integrity.

For many organizations, conventional electricity use is a significant source of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Buying green power can make a real difference environmentally by helping to develop new, domestic renewable energy capacity, which produces electricity with significantly less air pollution and no net increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Organizations are capturing strategic value through green power purchases. Sometimes, organizations find the total value created from a green power purchase to be greater than its cost. Benefits produced from a green power purchase can include:

• Producing no net increases in (anthropogenic - human caused) greenhouse gas emissions
• Reducing air pollution
• Meeting organizational environmental objectives
• Creating positive publicity and increasing public image
• Displaying civic leadership
• Producing customer, investor, or stakeholder loyalty, and employee pride
• Providing a hedge against future electricity price instability
• Differentiating your organization’s brand in the marketplace
• Stimulating local economies
• Increasing domestic security through a more diverse fuel mix
• Encouraging long-term cost reductions for renewable energy
• Reducing the vulnerability of our nation’s energy infrastructure

-- The Envionmental Protection Agency

To be considered renewable energy, a resource must rely on naturally existing energy flows such as sunshine, wind and water flowing. The energy source, or “fuel”, must be replaced by natural processes at a rate that is equal to, or faster than, the rate at which the energy source is consumed.

Renewable resources can have inherent and varying technological, environmental, social, and economic benefits. Currently, renewable energy accounts for roughly 2.3% of the United States energy supply. EPA’s Green Power Partnership recognizes solar, biomass, geothermal, wind and low-impact hydro as eligible green power resources due to their respective environmental benefits and expressed consumer preference in voluntary green power markets.

-- The Envionmental Protection Agency

Renewable energy resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass and low-impact hydro generate green power. Not all sources of power generation share the same environmental benefits. As a result, green power is considered a subset of renewable energy and represents those renewable energy sources with the highest environmental benefit.

A green power resource produces electricity with zero anthropogenic (caused by humans) emissions, has a superior environmental profile to conventional power generation, and must have been built after the beginning of the voluntary market.

-- The Envionmental Protection Agency

Solar power (also known as solar energy) is a source of energy that uses radiation emitted by the Sun. It is a renewable energy source that has been used in many traditional technologies for centuries. It is also in widespread use where other power supplies are absent, such as in remote locations and in space.

-- The Envionmental Protection Agency