Thermal Industries, Inc. receives ENERGY STAR® Award for Outstanding Program Participation in Eastern United States

December 01, 2000 08:00

Thermal Industries, Inc., the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based manufacturer of vinyl exterior home products, was recently named as the Eastern Regional Window partner of the Year by the national ENERGY STAR® Program. Thermal Industries, Inc. was selected from more than 200 replacement window manufacturers for its extensive marketing and sales initiatives developed to promote the ENERGY STAR label.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the ENERGY STAR Award, presented in 12 different categories including regional Window Partner of the Year, was developed to "honor organizations that have made notable contributions to energy efficiency."

Thermal Industries Participation

"Since we became a manufacturing partner of the ENERGY STAR program, our sale of compliant windows has shown tremendous growth. Currently, more than 65 percent of the windows that we ship are (ENERGY STAR) compliant in all three regions and are labeled appropriately," said David Rascoe, president of Thermal Industries. "With over 50 styles to choose from, we are very proud of that penetration rate."

Thermal Industries is promoting the program via numerous sales and marketing channels including collateral materials, educational videos, sales presentations and dealer support programs. They also actively recruit participants for the ENERGY STAR Retail Partner Program from their dealer base. "After reviewing a recent list of (ENERGY STAR) retail partners, we realized we were responsible for at least 35 percent of the participants. That was an encouraging indicator that our promotional efforts were highly effective," said Rascoe.

ENERGY STAR Program

The ENERGY STAR Program was developed to simplify purchasing decisions for consumers by assuring product manufacturers exceed minimum energy efficiency criteria. According to the program's web site, ENERGY STAR is a collaboration between DOE, EPA and many companies, including Thermal Industries, that is designed to prevent pollution by helping consumers buy products that use less energy. The ENERGY STAR label and other activities raise awareness about the environmental and economic benefits of energy efficient products and help consumers easily identify them when shopping. The federal government defines minimum stardards for energy consumption for many consumer products such as major appliances. In order for one of these products to receive the ENERGY STAR rating, it must exceed the minimum federal standards by a specified amount, which varies from product to product.

ENERGY STAR Program Benefits

The ENERGY STAR web site also reveals that an average household spends over 40 percent of its annual energy budget on heating and cooling costs. These bills could be reduced nearly 15 percent if homeowners installed ENERGY STAR compliant windows. Energy costs would continue to fall if all residential windows in the country were replaced with ENERGY STAR approved window systems-$7 billion saved over the next 15 year. ENERGY STAR windows are environmentally responsible because they reduce the amount of energy needed to heat homes. For more information, log on to the ENERGY STAR web site at: www.energystar.gov