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Does Energy Star Certification Reduce Energy Use in Commercial Buildings?

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  • Becka Brolinson
  • Karen Palmer
  • Margaret Walls

Abstract

A number of policies and programs are aimed at reducing energy use in buildings—building energy codes, disclosure laws, energy-use benchmarking, and mandated or subsidized energy audits. In the United States, many of these initiatives are enacted at the state or local level. At the federal level, one of the main programs is Energy Star certification, which provides a label to top energy-performing buildings. In this paper, we evaluate changes in rents and utility expenditures following Energy Star certification using a national sample of over 4,100 office buildings combined with Energy Star data from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We find that building rents increase by 3.6% following certification, but that utility expenditures remain unchanged. We provide novel evidence that buildings do not make upgrades or capital investments to obtain a certification, suggesting that the Energy Star program primarily certifies buildings that are already energy efficient.

Suggested Citation

  • Becka Brolinson & Karen Palmer & Margaret Walls, 2023. "Does Energy Star Certification Reduce Energy Use in Commercial Buildings?," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 10(1), pages 55-93.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jaerec:doi:10.1086/720952
    DOI: 10.1086/720952
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    Cited by:

    1. Ma, Lala & Walls, Margaret A. & Wibbenmeyer, Matthew & Lennon, Connor, 2023. "Risk Disclosure and Home Prices: Evidence from California Wildfire Hazard Zones," RFF Working Paper Series 23-26, Resources for the Future.
    2. Johannes Gessner & Andreas Gerster & Michael Kramm, 2025. "The Alignment Effect of Auditing," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2025_696, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    3. Klaus Eisenack, 2024. "Why Local Governments Set Climate Targets: Effects of City Size and Political Costs," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 87(11), pages 2935-2965, November.
    4. Moeltner, Klaus & Puri, Roshan & Johnston, Robert J., 2023. "Regression and matching in hedonic analysis: Empirical guidance for estimator choice," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335807, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. repec:ags:aaea22:335807 is not listed on IDEAS

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