ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year—
Retail Partner
Lowe’s Home Improvement Warehouse
Wilkesboro, North Carolina
This year, the seven million customers a week that shop at Lowe’s
800 home improvement stores in 43 states are more likely than ever
to save money and help protect the environment by taking home an
ENERGY STAR qualifying product. Lowe’s continues to teach con-
sumers about ENERGY STAR through in-store promotions, the
Lowe’s ENERGY STAR Solutions Guide, informed sales staff, and
specialized educational clinics about ENERGY STAR. In 2002,
ENERGY STAR qualified products offered by Lowe’s increased
30 percent over the prior year, resulting in a 39 percent increase in
sales of qualifying products. Sales staff are better prepared to close
the sale for energy efficiency—100 percent of employees have been
educated about ENERGY STAR. The company has integrated
ENERGY STAR education into every sales associate training venue,
including collateral, intranet, broadcast (Business Television), and
corporate wide communiqués (Lowe Down). Customer interest in
ENERGY STAR is generated by a dedicated ENERGY STAR on-line
shopping center; incorporating messages on the economic and
environmental benefits of ENERGY STAR qualifying products in all
consumer advertising (including weekly TV ads airing on HGTV,
generating 143 million impressions for ENERGY STAR in 2002); and
specialized public relations activities, such as the laundry room
make over, featuring an ENERGY STAR qualifying clothes washer,
on Ron Hazelton’s, House Call (ABC).
What does Lowe’s plan to do to top all that? Lowe’s has announced
a corporate commitment to increase sales of ENERGY STAR qualify-
ing products by another 20 percent in 2003, is pursuing benchmark-
ing and improving the efficiency of its own facilities with ENERGY
STAR tools, and has become the first home improvement retailer to
join EPA’s Green Power Partnership.
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ENERGY STAR® Partner of the Year—
Product Manufacturers
Panasonic
Secaucus, New Jersey
Panasonic’s enduring commitment to energy eff