EPA Celebrates Koch Industries in Wichita as 2021 ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year
Environmental News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nationally, EPA and DOE are honoring 206 ENERGY STAR partners from 39 states. The award winners include Fortune 500® companies, schools, retailers, manufacturers, home builders, and commercial building owners and operators across the U.S.
“ENERGY STAR award-winning partners are showing the world that delivering real climate solutions makes good business sense and promotes job growth,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Many of them have been doing it for years, inspiring all of us who are committed to tackling the climate crisis and leading the way to a clean energy economy.”
“Major companies, like Koch, that invest in energy reduction and efficiency are investing in their future and ours,” said Acting EPA Region 7 Administrator Ed Chu. “Through their leadership it is clear that energy efficiency improvements can be developed for all industries.”
Wichita-based Koch Industries Inc. earned its second consecutive Partner of the Year Award in Energy Management through a $1.5 billion investment in energy efficiency improvement projects over a five-year period. The investment includes the first ENERGY STAR certifications of a pulp mill and two fertilizer plants in 2020.
This year, ENERGY STAR is recognizing more than 150 award winners for their year-over-year commitment to energy efficiency through the program’s highest honor: ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year – Sustained Excellence Award. To qualify for Sustained Excellence recognition, winners must have already received ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year recognition for a minimum of two consecutive years and gone above and beyond the criteria needed to qualify for recognition.
For over 25 years, EPA’s ENERGY STAR program has been America’s resource for saving energy and protecting the environment. In 2019 alone, ENERGY STAR and its partners helped American families and businesses save nearly 500 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity and avoid $39 billion in energy costs. These savings resulted in emission reductions of nearly 390 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, roughly equivalent to 5% of U.S. total greenhouse gas emissions.
Read more about the ENERGY STAR Awards and award winners’ achievements.
About ENERGY STAR
ENERGY STAR® is the government-backed symbol for energy efficiency, providing simple, credible, and unbiased information that consumers and businesses rely on to make well-informed decisions. Thousands of industrial, commercial, utility, state, and local organizations—including more than 40 percent of the Fortune 500®—rely on their partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to deliver cost-saving energy efficiency solutions. Since 1992, ENERGY STAR and its partners helped American families and businesses avoid more than $450 billion in energy costs and achieve 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas reductions.
# # #
Learn more ENERGY STAR and its impacts
Learn more about EPA Region 7
View all Region 7 news releases
Connect with EPA Region 7 on Facebook: www.facebook.com/eparegion7
Follow us on Twitter: @EPARegion7