Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2007 School Districts Top EPA's List of Energy Star Leaders Contact: Enesta Jones, (202) 564-4355 / jones.enesta@epa.gov EPA's list of Energy Star Leaders has grown to more than 50 organizations, almost two-thirds of which are school districts. In addition to schools, Energy Star Leaders include hospitals, supermarkets, commercial real estate businesses and hospitality companies. Combined, each year they have reduced greenhouse gas emissions equal to those from more than 30,000 U.S. homes. Energy Star Leaders are an elite group of organizations that manage energy strategically across an entire portfolio of buildings using EPA's standardized measurement tool for tracking building energy use. These select organizations are recognized by the agency for improving the energy performance of their portfolio by ten percent or more. The highest leaders recognition identifies those organizations with portfolios that perform in the top 25 percent of energy efficiency nationwide based upon the average of the buildings in the portfolio. Over the past year, 16 organizations have achieved recognition as Energy Star Leaders, including 15 school districts serving children in kindergarten through 12th grade in Minnesota, Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, North Carolina, Delaware, Massachusetts, Virginia and Wisconsin. In addition, The Stop&Shop Supermarket Co., LLC, which includes Stop&Shop stores in New England and Giant Food stores in the Mid-Atlantic, was also recognized as an Energy Star Leader. Energy Star was introduced by EPA in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. Today, the Energy Star label can be found on more than 50 different kinds of products, new homes and commercial and industrial buildings. Products and buildings that have earned the Energy Star designation prevent greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the government. Last year alone, Americans, with the help of Energy Star, saved about $14 billion on their energy bills while reducing the greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 25 million vehicles. For more info on Energy Star leaders: http://www.energystar.gov/leaders