Thank you.  It’s a pleasure it is to be here with you all this evening. 

 

I believe EPA Administrator Johnson will be speaking to you in a few minutes.  I want to mention that Steve and I get along well; we’re friends.  That’s not always the case in Washington.  I realize this may shock you.  But Stephen and I have a great relationship, and I think it helps our Departments work together a little better.

 

Let me offer my personal thanks and congratulations for the outstanding work that has earned you an ENERGY STAR® award.  This award acknowledges the hard work and dedication that have helped make ENERGY STAR® one of the most successful voluntary public/private partnership programs.  You--and the rest of our partners around the country--have excelled at giving consumers and businesses the power to make smart energy choices.

 

This year we’re celebrating DOE’s ten year anniversary with the ENERGY STAR® program.  Since joining forces with EPA in 1996 to promote energy-efficient appliances, windows, and compact fluorescent lamps, we have helped consumers save billions of dollars in utility bills.

 

Together, we have been able to achieve these savings and these efficiencies by offering commercially competitive products that consumers want.  For instance, the market share for ENERGY STAR®-qualified clothes washers has grown from less than one percent at the beginning of 1997 to its current level of more than 30%.  When the ENERGY STAR® criteria were updated for refrigerators in 2001, there were no qualified models.  Today, even after strengthening the criteria, the market share of ENERGY STAR® qualified refrigerators is nearly 35%. 

 

When the ENERGY STAR® program expanded to include compact fluorescent lamps in 1999, it was difficult to even find a bulb in a store. Today, although sales are less than 5% of the market, an estimated 50 million ENERGY STAR®-qualified CFLs are sold each year.  And you can easily find CFLs in many big box, hardware, grocery and drug stores across the country.

           

Those are noteworthy successes.  Now, we are using the lessons learned from ENERGY STAR® to accelerate the introduction of new, advanced products into the market. That means engaging all the creative minds in this room --as well as ENERGY STAR® partners around the country -- to leverage our combined technical expertise, market influence, and years of experience in building demand for energy efficient technologies.

 

I believe the ENERGY STAR® program can continue to hasten the mass commercialization of new, exciting technologies in lighting, water heating, appliances and renewable energy product markets.  Together, we can move markets in a way that was previously thought impossible. 

 

I want you to know that the Department of Energy is proud to work with our partners in the government, and with and all of you—our business partners.  And we look forward to achieving even greater things in the future. 

 

Once again, please accept my congratulations and thank you for all you have done to make this program so successful.