What's New?
Earth Day 2007: The ENERGY STAR “Giving Tree”
Please join ENERGY STAR in celebrating Earth Day 2007! This year, EPA is educating
Americans about how they can help “Give a gift to the Earth.” We
invite you to share this e-card and the ENERGY STAR “Giving Tree” with
your company and customers, so they may take action to help prevent global warming
and protect the environment for future generations.
Help spread the word this Earth
Day by distributing the Earth Day e-card to your customers, linking to the Giving
Tree, or featuring the Giving Tree in newsletter to employees and customers.
The Giving Tree will be live on energystar.gov/earthday (see
below) throughout the months of April and May. We encourage you to use the attached
Web-ready button to open the Giving Tree from your organization's Web site.
Web Page |
Web Button |
The New Online ENERGY STAR Partnership
Agreement
This past December, EPA introduced a new online Partnership Agreement for builders
and raters interested in becoming ENERGY STAR partners. The new online version
is a quick and easy way to learn about the program requirements and to sign the
Partnership Agreement to build or rate ENERGY STAR qualified homes. Since the
online version has been introduced, EPA has seen a 100% increase in submitted
agreements! The online ENERGY STAR Partnership Agreement is available at www.energystar.gov/join.
Ordering
ENERGY STAR Publications
A new online order form on the ENERGY STAR Web site allows
you to expedite your orders. Please visit www.energystar.gov/publications.
If you need help placing an order, please contact the ENERGY
STAR Hotline at hotline@energystar.gov or
call 1-888-STAR-YES. All publications can be ordered free
of charge.
A New Promotional Mark, Learn More at energystar.gov
EPA recently released a new promotional mark for the ENERGY
STAR program. The tagline, "learn more at energystar.gov,”
provides consumers with an easily-recognized source of information
about energy efficiency provided by the government. EPA encourages
partners to adopt the new mark when developing materials
that feature ENERGY STAR, such as brochures, media kits,
flyers, Web sites, and public education campaigns. The previous
promotional mark (Change for the Better with ENERGY STAR)
may continue to be used by partners if they choose. However,
it will no longer be available on the ENERGY STAR Web site.
This
new mark is now available for download on the ENERGY STAR
Web site, at www.energystar.gov/marks.
While you are visiting the ENERGY STAR Web site to download
the new promotional mark, don’t forget to download
the most current version of all the marks! As with all the
ENERGY STAR partner marks, a user name and password are required.
If you have misplaced or forgotten this information, please
click on the link for “I forgot my username and password”
to have them re-sent to your e-mail address or contact the
ENERGY STAR Hotline at 1-888-STAR-YES.
New Brochures Coming Soon: Builder Recruitment
and
Manufactured Housing
An update to the popular “Join the Partnership”
brochure is coming soon! This brochure explains the benefits
to builders of participating in the program. Look for the
new brochure in early summer.
A Spanish-language version of our consumer brochure about
ENERGY STAR qualified manufactured homes will be available
soon. The full color, tri-fold brochure features the main
benefits to consumers of owning a manufactured home that
has qualified for the ENERGY STAR. Copies of the brochure
are being made available mainly to manufacturing plants that
produce ENERGY STAR qualified manufactured homes and to retailers
who sell these homes to consumers.
ENERGY STAR Online Sales Toolkit for
New Homes Coming Soon!
EPA is proud to offer the popular ENERGY STAR for Homes Sales
Toolkit in a new online format. The new format makes it easy
for builders to create quality materials on a budget and
ensures that local materials are consistent with the national
program. It can be a great resource for rater partners as
well! The Toolkit is expected to debut in early May. Look
for additional information via e-mail in the coming weeks.
New Primary Account Managers for Your ENERGY STAR
Questions
To better serve our ENERGY STAR New Homes partners, we have
designed a new method to provide regional support, effective
as of April 1, 2007. This model will connect you with a staff
member best suited to meet your needs, regardless of your
geographic area. Whether you have a need for a technical
presentation, help designing an ENERGY STAR for New Homes
program, help with seminars, or with developing a sales presentation,
you should contact the new Primary Account Manager for your
region, illustrated in the map below. These new Account Managers
will field all requests for regional support, connecting
you with the ENERGY STAR team member best suited to meet
your needs. Contact information for these regional Account
Managers is provided below.
Erin Trager
Phone: (703) 934-3053
Fax: (703) 934-3530
etrager@icfi.com
States: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California,
Connecticut, Delaware, Dist. of Columbia, Florida, Georgia,
Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts,
Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico,
New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode
Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia
and West Virginia |
|
Stacey Patmore
Phone: (202) 343-9407
Fax:
(202) 343-2200
patmore.stacey@epa.gov
States: Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois,
Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Missouri,
Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah,
Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming |
ENERGY STAR Policy for Attached Housing
EPA has a new policy for qualifying attached housing units
as ENERGY STAR. For the performance path, multifamily units
can essentially qualify for ENERGY STAR if the end-unit
with the most exposed wall area qualifies. For the prescriptive
path, EPA has developed a new BOP that is similar to the
one developed for detached housing, but allows builders
the option of selecting additional energy efficiency features
when installing a high-efficiency HVAC system is not cost
effective. Specific details on these requirements can be
found in the Technical Resources section of the ENERGY
STAR for New Homes Web site at energystar.gov/homes.
ENERGY STAR Happenings
EPA Honors 2007 ENERGY STAR Partners of the Year
On March 21, 2007, EPA and DOE recognized the ENERGY STAR Partner
of the Year award winners at the annual ENERGY STAR Awards
banquet and reception in Washington, DC. These partners have
demonstrated a commitment to the construction of ENERGY STAR
qualified new homes, contributed to the growth of ENERGY STAR
in their markets, and effectively included ENERGY STAR in their
marketing and sales efforts. These organizations have recognized
that energy-efficient homes are good for business and the environment.
We applaud their efforts as ENERGY STAR partners.
- ENERGY STAR Award for Sustained Excellence -
Home Builders
Astoria Homes – Las Vegas, NV
David Powers Homes – Houston, TX
Ence Homes – St. George, UT
Veridian Homes – Madison, WI
- ENERGY STAR Award for Sustained Excellence - Utilities
and Sponsoring Programs
CenterPoint Energy – Houston, TX
Nevada ENERGY STAR Partners – Las Vegas, NV
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority
– Albany, NY
TXU Electric Delivery – Dallas, TX
Wisconsin Focus on Energy Program – Madison, WI
- ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year - Builders
Anderson Homes, Inc. – Cary, NC
Bob Ward Companies – Edgewood, MD
Bosgraaf Homes – Holland, MI
CMH Manufacturing, a subsidiary of Clayton Homes, Inc. –
Maryville, TN
The Commodore Corporation – Goshen, IN
Haven Properties – Alpharetta, GA
Holton Homes Inc. – Nampa, ID
K. Hovnanian Homes - Minnesota Division – Eden Prairie,
MN
Palm Harbor Homes – Addison, TX
Winton/Flair Custom Homes – El Paso, TX
- ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Raters
Advanced Energy – Raleigh, NC
DPIS Engineering, LLC – Tomball, TX
Energy Inspectors – Las Vegas, NV
Energy Services Group – Wilmington, DE
Fox Energy Specialists, The Nelrod Company – Forth
Worth, TX
Southern Energy Management – Raleigh, NC
Southwest Energy Conservation, LLC – El Paso, TX
- ENERGY STAR Award for Excellence in Energy-Efficient
Affordable Housing Nationwide
Enterprise – Columbia, MD
- ENERGY STAR Award for Excellence in Energy-Efficient
Affordable Housing
Community Housing Partners Corporation – Christiansburg,
VA
Houston Habitat for Humanity – Houston, TX
Louisville Metro Housing Authority – Louisville, KY
New Jersey Green Homes Office - NJ Dept. of Community Affairs
– Trenton, NJ
Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency – Harrisburg,
PA
Philadelphia Housing Authority – Philadelphia, PA
27 Participants in the 2007 Outreach Partnership
The Outreach Partnership brings together ENERGY STAR partners
– including homebuilders, home energy raters, and utilities,
as well as other local ENERGY STAR supporters – to pool
resources to increase consumer demand for ENERGY STAR qualified
homes in their markets. The Outreach Partnership is designed
to provide a sustained local presence for ENERGY STAR and
help build consumer awareness of the benefits of ENERGY STAR
qualified homes and the builders who offer them.
This year, 27 markets are participating in the Outreach Partnership,
including a mix of returning partner groups and new collaborations
of partners. The submission deadline for this year's program
was March 16, 2007. If you missed out this year, be on the
lookout for information about the 2008 program early next
year.
Reminders
Listing Your Web site on the ENERGY STAR Partner
Locator
Have you wondered how you can have a hyperlink to your company
Web site from the ENERGY STAR Partner Locator? The ENERGY
STAR Web site receives 6,000,000 visits every year – making
Web
linking a great, free marketing tool available to all partners.
Please review the ENERGY STAR Web Linking Policy at www.energystar.gov/weblinking
to determine if your company Web site meets the criteria for
establishing a link. Once your Web site meets the requirements
outlined in the Policy, send an e-mail with your URL and company
name to hotline@energystar.gov
with your request to have a link established.
Maintaining Your Active
Partnership
To maintain active status on the ENERGY STAR Partner Locator,
a partner must qualify at least one home as ENERGY STAR every
twelve months. Partners not meeting this requirement are placed
on an inactive status and removed from the Partner Locator.
To ensure you stay active, make sure that your ENERGY STAR qualified
homes are properly reported to EPA.
If your company becomes inactive, your partnership will be reactivated
automatically once EPA receives a report from an accredited
Home Energy Rating Provider indicating that you have built,
rated, or sponsored a new ENERGY STAR qualified home. Providers
submit reports to EPA at the end of each quarter. You will not
have to sign a new ENERGY STAR Partnership Agreement.
If you receive an e-mail that your status is inactive and you
believe this is inaccurate, please send an e-mail to hotline@energystar.gov
and be sure to include your company's name in the message text.
Updating Organization and Contact Information
To update organization or contact information, please visit
the My ENERGY STAR Account (MESA) Web site at www.energystar.gov/mesa.
If you have misplaced or forgotten this information, please
click on the link for “I forgot my username and password”
to have them re-sent to your e-mail address. Please add the MESA
site to your “Favorites” folder so that you can
easily access the Web site from your computer! |
