Promoting the E NERGY S TAR Symbol in Canada Anne Wilkins Office of Energy Efficiency Natural Resources Canada

E NERGY S TAR in Canada Administrative agreement signed between US EPA and US DOE and Natural Resources Canada in May 2001 Agreement included the promotion by Canada of 13 products, in five categories: appliances; heating and cooling; office equipment; home electronics; lighting and signage. Amendment letter submitted by Natural Resources Canada to US EPA and US DOE to add an additional nine products.

List of products for which there are Energy Star specifications in Canada harmonized with the U.S.: Home Appliances: –Bottled water coolers; clothes washers; dishwashers; refrigerators Heating and cooling: –Air-source heat pumps; resid. Boilers; central and room air conditioners; dehumidifiers; gas furnaces; programmable thermostats; Consumer electronics: –Audio products; DVD; TV; TV-VCR; VCRs Office equipment –Computers; monitors; MFD; photocopiers; printers and fax machines; scanners; mailing machines

Will be adding the following products as of June 2002: –Ground source heat pumps –Ventilation fans –Compact fluorescent lights –Traffic signals –Cordless telephones \ answering machines –Set Top Boxes –Commercial clothes washers –Distribution transformers –Solid Door Refrigerators and Freezers –Windows and Doors

Setting a context for Energy Star in Canada: Accelerated Standards Action Program ASAP part of the Gvt of Canada’s Climate Change Action Plan 2000 – large cross-sectoral initiative designed to help Canada meet its GHG reduction objectives. Climate change Action Plan 2000 expected to take us at least one-third of the way towards our Kyoto target. Next series of measures to be developed in Fall after Canada- wide stakeholders consultations ASAP designed to stimulate the demand for more energy efficient products as more stringent energy efficiency standards are introduced. Energy Star one of several initiatives in ASAP as part of market transformation initiatives

ASAP Program Elements Branding Energy Star as a symbol consumers should ask for when seeking energy efficient products Piloting financial incentives. First year will be to generate interest in Energy Star as a brand. Outreach \ Accelerated Replacement of older equipment to more energy efficient and influence stock efficiency Procurement \ Institutional Purchasing activities in all levels of government

Shifting the Marketplace Efficiency Products Minimum Standard t 1 Illegal products EnerGuide and EnergyStar labels promote consumer preference for more efficient products

Survey Says: ……. In the absence of any government advertising or promotion, an omnibus survey, which polled 1,000 Canadians revealed that: –13% of Canadians can identify the Energy Star symbol without any prompting –26% of Canadians, when prompted, can identify the Energy Star symbol Canadians have most commonly mentioned Computer equipment as the place where they’ve more often seen the symbol.

Bringing Energy Star into Canada: What we’ve encountered in the development of the program in the last year. Issue of harmonization of levels and test specification Participation in the development/revision/commentary of the test specification Official bilingualism Competing priorities National Pride

Bringing Energy Star into Canada has not been without its problems! Most challenging issue was, and is: Bilingualism and Canada’s Official Bilingualism Act Had developed a bilingual tag line under the English-only Energy Star registered mark:

Acceptability testing of a unilingual symbol in Canada Our Government Advertising Commmittee asked us to: –assess the level of acceptability of the Gvt of Canada’s association with an existing international symbol which includes a unilingual component; and –test the interpretation of “high efficiency” (proposed as tagline to the EnergyStar symbol) and to test for perceived links between high efficiency and the environment.

Results of advertising focus testing revealed: The unilingual trademark raised no negative reaction amongst French-speaking Canadians – though the word « international » is key and needs to be integrated into the communications strategy. The bilingual tag line was seen more in terms of product performance than energy consumption. Recommendation was that: ads by the government use the unilingual tag line only; position it within context of an international initiative that the Gvt of Canada is bringing to the attention of Canadians to help in reducing GHG emissions; that ads encourage Canadians to seek energy efficient products.

Energy Star in Canada Energy Star positioned in promotional material as a symbol that consumers should seek for identifying the most energy efficient products Canada-wide promotional campaign promoting the recognition of this symbol will kick start in the Fall – after a series of focus testing of newest ad concepts Many retailers and manufacturers of appliances now using E NERGY S TAR as a launch pad for their promotional activities, with NRCan participating Several promotions in retail environment now underway

Other noteworthy activities Energy efficient lighting symposium / set up of a Steering Committee for Lighting Energy Star activities in HVAC Sector i.e. high efficiency gas furnaces with energy efficient blower motor House in Order

Promotion of E NERGY S TAR in Canada –Web site ( –Advertising, co-ops and promotional activities –Marketing initiatives to directly to manufacturers and retailers –Development of agreements with organizations to promote Energy Star internally and externally –Incentives –Sales person training –Procurement initiative

The Appliance EnerGuide Labels and the Energy Star symbol