A sign of energy star on a building.
Lynne Gilbert | Mobile moment | Getty images
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Most people consider energy to be the small blue sticker on their devices which tell them that they will see some saving energy efficiency on their public service bills. But Energy Star, a public-private partnership administered by the US Environmental Protection Agency, is much more than that. Now he would be on the cutting block as part of the massive budget cuts offered by the Trump administration.
About 2,500 manufacturers, promoters and manufactured housing companies participate in the new energy building construction program, which establishes strict guidelines on the energy efficiency required to obtain its designation. Last year, more than 8,800 commercial buildings won the energy star, saving more than $ 2.2 billion and preventing more than 5.7 million metric tonnes of emissions, according to the energy website.
Even more critical for the owners, Energy Star also includes a software platform which is the fundamental infrastructure for energy monitoring in commercial real estate. EPA EPA EPA Portfolio Manager tools connects public services to owners, then to dozens of national and municipal governments that count on this to respect their energy and climatic policies, many of which include tax loss and financial subsidies for energy savings.
The EPA announced the cuts of massive jobs and a restructuring at the beginning of May, and although it does not specifically mention the energy star, many reports, citing EPA documents, say that this is part of the plan.
An EPA spokesman said in a statement: “EPA continues to work to implement the reorganization plans that were announced on May 2, 2025. The EPA will provide updates on these plans as they become available.”
The agency refused to comment more.
The owners are based on portfolio data manager to maintain compliance with state and municipal regulations and to assess the energy performance of buildings in their portfolios and decide which need up. Such upgrades could include a new CVC and new lighting.
Last year, the tool was used by more than 330,000 buildings, representing almost 25% of all floors of commercial buildings in the United States, according to the EPA website. Seven states, 48 local governments and two Canadian provinces are currently based on the program and its software for their comparative analysis and transparency energy policies, according to the agency.
“There is a potential that they would finance the entire software platform. And therefore if the system disappears, the data disappears with it, and what it means is that this center, this tissue connected around how the owner of public services and the State and municipal governments share the energy data, which were all going to disappear,” said Leia de Guzman, co-founder of Cambio, real estate.
According to Guzman, at the highest level, the Star energy portfolio manager supports $ 14 billion in energy savings per year.
“If you don’t have the data, you have no way of understanding how to deploy modernization initiatives in your building,” she said.
Cambio, which ingests construction data in order to automate real estate operations, can use the energy data of the stars of the past and offers owners and construction managers of the possibility of saving data that already exists. However, he could not obtain future data if the EPA deletes its system.
Industrial organizations such as the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the National Association Association (NAA) and the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) are fighting for the existence of the program. The concern is that if Energy Star, including the portfolio manager, had to lose federal support and then be managed by a private entity, the costs would increase.
“This is a program of $ 32 million for the government, but it provides, in terms of return on investment – it is enormous,” said Nicole Upano, director of the NAA public policy. “It provides hundreds of billions of dollars in savings for consumers and businesses in its current form, and if it were to be managed by an external company, which could cause a cost -based system that would increase the cost of using this program.”
If the portfolio manager was no longer a government program, said Upano, the probable result would be a complicated patchwork.
“As a program managed by the government, they do not choose a horse. They are very focused on energy efficiency and the reduction of waste overall. But if, say, an external company should manage it, they could focus on gas electrification, or choose a sort of energy service system they favor, and we would not want to see this,” she said.