ENERGY STAR for Industry Certification in North America

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to use the ENERGY STAR brand. The U.S. EPA owns the rights to the ENERGY STAR brand. The Canadian program is to be based on ENERGY STAR benchmarking tools, which were developed under an exclusive work agreement between the U.S. EPA and Duke University. These ENERGY STAR benchmarking tools are based on plant energy performance indicators and can help a company to know how efficiently its plant uses energy relative to other plants across the U.S. and Canada. In order to align ENERGY STAR for Industry seamlessly in U.S. and Canada, NRCan and the U.S. EPA are working collaboratively to develop and update industrial benchmarking platforms that use confidential energy data. It is understood that accessing this data is carefully controlled and provided on a limited basis; for example, the U.S. data is only available through the Center for Economic Studies of the U.S. Census Bureau, and is only provided to researchers who have secured several lengthy approvals for access. Therefore, having access to confidential data and the ability to protect it is essential. In both countries, data is organized using the same North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to define industry. In alignment with the U.S., the Canadian ENERGY STAR for Industry program offers companies recognition for their commitment to energy management through certification of facilities. This research project substantively supports Canada’s commitments made under the Canada – U.S. Clean Energy Dialogue, the Clean Energy Ministerial, and the North American Energy Ministers’ Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Climate Change and Energy Collaboration.