February 9 , 2004—The Home Depot recently announced that the company received the National Product Campaign Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its support of two national energy saving campaigns in 2003. The U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR awards are held annually to recognize leading companies and organizations for their outstanding contributions to environmental protection and energy efficiency through their partnerships with ENERGY STAR. This is the first time any retailer has received the National Product Campaign Award.
In 2003, Home Depot partnered with the Department of Energy and EPA to support their ENERGY STAR ‘Cool Change’ and ‘Change a Light, Change the World’ campaigns.
Launched in the spring, the ‘Cool Change’ campaign encouraged customers to prepare for the summer heat by upgrading their cooling products to ENERGY STAR qualified models. In May 2003, Home Depot supported the campaign by promoting ENERGY STAR qualified ceiling fans, programmable thermostats, room and central air conditioners.
Launched in the fall, the ‘Change a Light, Change the World’ campaign challenged Americans to change to lighting products that save energy, money and the environment. Home Depot endorsed the campaign by featuring ENERGY STAR qualified compact fluorescent bulbs and light fixtures. Both campaigns were supported with in-store advertising, associate training, direct to consumer marketing and utility rebates in some regions.
Driven by the success of these two programs, Home Depot sold more than 15 million ENERGY STAR products in 2003.
