Apply for the ENERGY STAR for Industrial Plants

Wet corn milling, auto manufacturing and cement plants achieving a rating of 75 or higher using the ENERGY STAR Energy Performance Indicator specific to their plant type are eligible to apply for the ENERGY STAR. Petroleum refineries should email the EPA contact below for further information on application procedures.

Qualified plants will receive a certificate of achievement along with a letter of congratulations to the company’s corporate energy manager and chief executive officer. The plant will also receive a bronze ENERGY STAR plaque and graphics to create a flag or banner, both reflecting the year for which the plant has qualified for the ENERGY STAR.

Use the appropriate EPA ENERGY STAR plant Energy Performance Indicator (EPI) to determine the performance of all plants eligible to be rated and find candidates which may qualify for the ENERGY STAR. To view the rating tools or EPIs for these industries, see Industries in Focus.

Eligibility & How to Apply

Follow the six steps below to qualify your plant as ENERGY STAR:

1. Plant must be a wet corn milling, auto manufacturing and cement plants. Cement plants must be making Portland cement and not blended cements.
2. Download the most current version of the correct EPI for your industry and collect the data necessary to score the plant's energy performance. The dataset must include 12 months of continuous data ending within the last four months.*
3. Determine if the plant achieves a rating of 75 or above.
4. Satisfy the following environmental compliance criteria:
   • No High Priority Violations of the Clean Air Act within the past 3 years
   • No significant violations involving on-site generation facilities within the past 3 years
   • No criminal convictions or pleas within the past 5 years or current criminal investigations involving an employee(s) or corporate officers for environmentally-related violations involving air emissions or on-site generation facilities at this plant.
5. Plant must have safe lighting levels as recommended by the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) for industrial facilities and described in IESNA Lighting Handbook; 9th Edition, Chapter 19.
6. Obtain application documents from EPA, fill them out and return them to EPA. This includes a Statement of Energy Performance (SEP), a sheet generated by the EPI. The SEP must be signed and stamped by a professional engineer licensed in the state in which the plant is located certifying that the information used to calculate the plant’s energy performance score is correct.

NOTE: The ENERGY STAR is awarded for a specific year. A plant that has earned the ENERGY STAR becomes eligible to reapply one year after the date of the last energy data included in the SEP submitted as part of the previous year's application.

* for exceptions to this rule please contact Walt Tunnessen

Please send all application materials via overnight mail service to:
Walt Tunnessen
ENERGY STAR for Plants
1310 L Street, NW
Office 913M
Washington, DC 20005

For further information, contact:
Walt Tunnessen
Email: tunnessen.walt@epa.gov