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OMB Control No: 2060-0347	ICR Reference No: 202212-2060-019
Status: Received in OIRA	Previous ICR Reference No: 201909-2060-013
Agency/Subagency: EPA/OAR	Agency Tracking No: 1772.09
Title: EPA's ENERGY STAR Program in the Commercial and Industrial Sectors (Renewal)
Type of Information Collection: Revision of a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Regular	Date Submitted to OIRA: 01/29/2024

	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	36 Months From Approved	04/30/2024
Responses	379,642	332,914
Time Burden (Hours)	187,199	210,306
Cost Burden (Dollars)	5,288,750	5,034,450

Abstract: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created ENERGY STAR as a voluntary program to help businesses and individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. Over time, EPA has streamlined the reporting requirements of ENERGY STAR and focused on providing recognition incentives for improvements (e.g., ENERGY STAR Awards program). EPA also makes tools and resources available over the web to help the public overcome the barriers to evaluating their energy performance and investing in profitable improvements. For several reasons, the publics participation in the ENERGY STAR program for commercial and industrial sectors has continued to increase over the past several years, and EPA expects their participation to rise even more in the coming years. A growing number of state and local governments are leveraging ENERGY STAR as a way for the public to respond to rising energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions. As of the end of 2022, 45 state and local governments rely on Portfolio Manager as the foundation for their energy benchmarking and transparency policies. Use of Portfolio Manager is also increasing as Building Performance Standards are increasingly being implemented. Participation in ENERGY STAR has also risen dramatically because of the efforts of trade associations, utilities, and third-party providers in promoting the program to the public. As participation has increased, EPA has taken measures to reduce the burden on participants that take advantage of the benefits of ENERGY STAR. In a recent year, the ENERGY STAR program for commercial buildings and industrial plants helped businesses and organizations save 230 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, avoid $14 billion in energy costs, and achieve 170 million metric tons of greenhouse gas reductions. On average, ENERGY STAR certified buildings use 35% less energy and generate 35% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than their peers.

Authorizing Statute(s): US Code: 42 USC 7403 Name of Law: Clean Air Act

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: None

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
	Not associated with rulemaking

Federal Register Notices & Comments
60-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	88 FR 34855	05/31/2023
30-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	89 FR 5529	01/29/2024
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Request	Previously Approved	Change Due to Agency Discretion	Change Due to Adjustment in Estimate
Annual Number of Responses	379,642	332,914	45,266	1,462
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	187,199	210,306	325	-23,432
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	5,288,750	5,034,450	254,300	0

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: Yes

Burden Increase Due to: Miscellaneous Actions

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement: There is a net decrease of 23,107 hours in the total estimated respondent burden compared with the ICR currently approved by OMB. This is a result of a 325-hour increase due to program changes and a 23,432-hour decrease due to adjustments. The increase due to program changes is a result of revised activities within ENERGY STAR Certification for Buildings. EPA plans to implement a new recognition offering, called ENERGY STAR NextGen Certification, designed to encourage top energy performance, use of renewable energy, and electrification of U.S. commercial and multifamily buildings. This increases the estimates related to joining the ENERGY STAR Program and associated activities by an estimated 300 hours. Also related to ENERGY STAR Certification for Buildings, EPA will be requesting additional information to verify respondent use details, which increases the estimate by around 384 hours. EPA will no longer be asking partners to submit information related to National Treasure Hunt activities, which reduced the estimate by 360 hours. There is a decrease in the burden hours estimate due to adjustments in the way respondents engage in benchmarking. Data indicate an increasing percentage of users are opting for Web Services over other benchmarking methods. Web Services offers greater economies of scale and time-savings efficiencies compared to other methods. Data also indicate that the percentage of repeat benchmarks performed in the tool has increased over new benchmarks. Repeat benchmarks take significantly less time than new ones regardless of the method used. Finally, Building Performance Standards are increasingly being implemented throughout the country, therefore increasing this burden hours estimate. EPA estimates that 365,000 buildings will be benchmarked annually in this ICR, whereas it estimated 299,000 in ICR 1772.08.

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $665,415

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? No

Does this ICR request any personally identifiable information (see OMB Circular No. A-130 for an explanation of this term)? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Does this ICR include a form that requires a Privacy Act Statement (see 5 U.S.C. §552a(e)(3))? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? No

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? No

Agency Contact: Cynthia Veit Maia 202 564-9494

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