Lowe's Becomes First Retailer to Win Energy Star(R) Award for Sustained Excellence in Retail
EPA Awards Lowe's Highest Honor for Energy-Efficiency Achievements
Year after Year
MOORESVILLE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has named Lowe's
Companies, Inc. the first winner of the ENERGY STAR(R)
Sustained Excellence Award in Retail. The award recognizes Lowe's
long-standing leadership as a retailer of energy-efficient products.
Lowe's will receive the EPA's most prestigious award at a ceremony in
Washington, D.C., on March 18.
Lowe's is being honored for outstanding achievements year after year in
customer outreach, employee training and product selection, and for
reducing greenhouse gas emissions through its industry-leading
commitment to energy efficiency. Lowe's has won eight consecutive ENERGY
STAR awards (2003-2010), including four ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year
awards for educating consumers about the benefits of energy efficiency.
"To be awarded the highest ENERGY STAR honor recognizes years of
dedication to providing products and solutions that benefit both our
customers and the environment," said Robert A. Niblock, Lowe's chairman
and CEO. "We're proud of our leadership role in promoting energy
efficiency, and this award challenges us to continue to do more to help
our customers save energy and money."
More than 17,000 partners across the U.S. participate in the ENERGY STAR
program, and only organizations that have won multiple ENERGY STAR
Partner of the Year awards are eligible for the Sustained Excellence
Award. Lowe's is the first to win the Sustained Excellence Award in the
retail category since the award's inception in 2004. In addition, Lowe's
is the 2009 WaterSense(R) Partner of the Year, offering retail's largest
in-stock selection of WaterSense products.
Lowe's, an ENERGY STAR partner since 2001, has successfully integrated
ENERGY STAR-qualified products into programs that have helped consumers
reduce utility bills. In 2009, Lowe's sold enough ENERGY STAR products
to save consumers more than $265 million off their energy bills compared
with non-ENERGY STAR products. Consumers can find everyday ways to save
energy, water and money at Lowes.com.
Last year, more than 10 million customers visited Lowes.com to find
ENERGY STAR products and resources for saving energy.
Lowe's achievements in delivering energy-efficiency savings to customers
in 2009 included:
-- Increasing the quantity and variety of ENERGY STAR products available in
stores, including raising the number of ENERGY STAR dishwashers in stock
to 90 percent of all dishwashers. Lowe's carries retail's largest
in-stock selection of ENERGY STAR major appliances.
-- Promoting ENERGY STAR as a way to save energy and money to an estimated
15 million customers per week through in-store efforts that included
increased employee training and enhanced signage.
-- Partnering with more than 40 utility companies to plan energy efficiency
rebate events, and creating an innovative online system to help utility
companies simplify the customer experience for rebate promotions.
-- Increasing national promotions for ENERGY STAR products and support for
tax-free events.
"Lowe's continued leadership and commitment to energy efficiency is a
testament to what we can accomplish to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
and protect our global environment," said Gina McCarthy, EPA assistant
administrator for air and radiation.
By choosing ENERGY STAR products and solutions, the typical household
can save up to 30 percent on energy bills, or about $700 a year. Last
year, Americans with the help of ENERGY STAR saved $17 billion on their
energy bills and reduced greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of
30 million vehicles. For more information about ENERGY STAR, visit www.energystar.gov.
About Lowe's
With fiscal year 2009 sales of $47.2 billion, Lowe's Companies, Inc. is
a FORTUNE(R) 50 company that serves approximately 15 million customers a
week at more than 1,700 home improvement stores in the United States,
Canada and Mexico. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C.,
Lowe's is the second-largest home improvement retailer in the world. For
more information, visit Lowes.com.
Source: Lowe's Companies, Inc.