The Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR™ certification is a common logo recognized on energy efficient electrical products. However, the ENERGY STAR program includes more than products, and also certifies homes, commercial buildings, and even industrial plants. 

For food processors, ENERGY STAR offers a number of energy management tools and resources and opportunities for recognition. Energy management is the first step to minimizing energy impacts and working towards becoming more sustainable. Hundreds of manufacturing companies routinely use EPA's ENERGY STAR resources to help them manage energy across their operations. ENERGY STAR offers resources and tools such as; how to build an energy management system, measuring, tracking and benchmarking, how to improve energy performance, and lastly, recognition for achievements in reductions.  

Participating in a recognition program is a proven way to help drive efficiency since it creates an objective and "prize" that everyone in the company can understand. The ENERGY STAR Challenge for Industry offers one of the easiest and most recognizable recognition program for manufacturing and food processing companies.  The Challenge for Industry is a global call-to-action for industrial sites to reduce their energy intensity by 10 percent within 5 years. Any industrial site can participate, and those that achieve this goal will earn EPA recognition.

Over 1000 manufacturing plants world-wide have taken the Challenge and some companies, such as General Motors, Colgate Palmolive and Bimbo Bakeries USA, have all their plants participating. In the food processing sector, over 145 dairy sector plants, 120 bakers and 27 other food processing facilities have taken the Challenge.  Over 320 plants have achieved the Challenge, including 43 food processing plants. Fifty-eight plants have achieved the Challenge twice. The average energy intensity reduction of plants achieving the Challenge is 20% in 2 years, and in total, over 60 trillion BTUs of energy have been saved, which has prevented the release of over 12 million metric tons of CO2 from being released. These numbers show that improving efficiency can reduce cost and protect our environment at the same time!

Whether you have been managing energy for years or are just getting started, trust ENERGY STAR to lead you in the right direction, help you reduce your risk, and show you how to save energy and money! For more information, please visit or contact Cara Gillen at gillen.cara@epa.gov, 415-972-3382.