Building energy star sign.
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Most people think of the energy star as a small blue sticker on appliances, and tell us that utility bills have a measure of energy efficiency savings. But Energy Star, a public-private partnership managed by the US Environmental Protection Agency, is much more than that. It is reportedly on a chopping block as part of a massive budget cut proposed by the Trump administration.
Approximately 2,500 builders, developers and manufactured housing companies are participating in the Energy Star Residential New Constrol Program, which sets the strict energy efficiency guidelines needed to win the designation. Last year, more than 8,800 commercial buildings won energy stars, saving over $2.2 billion and preventing more than 5.7 million tonnes of emissions, according to the Energy Star website.
More important to property owners, the energy star also includes a software platform, the basic infrastructure for energy tracking across commercial property. EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager Tool connects the utility to landowners and then to dozens of states and local governments that rely on it to support energy and climate policies.
The EPA announced major job cuts and restructuring in early May, but did not specifically mention EMENERY STAR, but cited the EPA document and said many reports are part of the plan.
An EPA spokesman said in a statement: “The EPA continues to implement the reorganization plan announced on May 2, 2025. The EPA will provide updates on these plans as it becomes available.”
The agency declined to comment further.
Landlords rely on portfolio manager data to maintain compliance with state and local government regulations, measure the energy performance of portfolio buildings, and determine what needs to be upgraded. Such upgrades may include new HVAC and lighting.
According to the EPA website, the tool was used in over 330,000 buildings last year and consists of almost 25% of all commercial building floor space in the United States. According to the agency, seven states, 48 local governments and two Canadian provinces currently rely on programs and their software for energy benchmarks and transparency policies.
“It could potentially refund the entire software platform. So if the system disappears, the data will disappear. What this means is that the hub will connect the organizations about how the utility landlords and the state and city governments share energy data, and everything will disappear.
According to Guzman, Energy Star Portfolio Manager is at a very high level, supporting $14 billion in energy costs per year.
“If you don’t have the data, you don’t have the means to understand how to deploy a retrofit initiative across the building,” she said.
CAMBIO, which ingests building data to automate real estate operations, offers the option to leverage historical energy star data and back up data that already exists for building owners and managers. However, if EPA defeated the system, it was unable to retrieve future data.
Industry organizations, including the National Association of Housing Builders (NAHB), the National Apartment Association (NAA), and the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), are fighting for the program’s presence. The concern is that if energy stars, including portfolio managers, lose federal support and are subsequently managed by private companies, costs will rise.
“It’s a $32 million program for the government, but it’s offered in terms of return on investment. It’s huge,” said Nicole Upano, NAA’s director of public policy. “This could be a fee-based system that offers hundreds of billions of dollars in savings to consumers and businesses in its current form and increases the cost of using this program if it is managed by external companies.”
If portfolio managers are no longer in government programs, Upano said the outcome would be a complex patchwork of compliance.
“As a government management program, they don’t choose horses. They are very focused on energy efficiency and reducing overall waste. But, for example, if an outside company manages it, they may focus on gas electrification or choose some kind of energy delivery system they like.
