The Most Energy Efficient Companies in 2024: Products & Services

Be you a home or a business owner, energy efficiency is more important than ever. Rising energy prices (and energy insecurity) render homes that are more energy efficient, cheaper to live in, and more expensive to sell, while energy-efficient businesses can offer products and services at lower prices and be more competitive in the market. Indeed, energy-efficient companies prove to be more resilient against the changing and fluctuating energy prices and they are more likely to withstand the resulting fluctuations in the overall market of goods and services. 

Needless to say, energy efficiency is a step everyone should take, not just US businesses. With the aim to be net-zero or carbon neutral by 2050, the US offers a number of incentives and rebates for all who would like to invest in energy efficiency and green energy sources. Being able to save energy before installing solar panels, wind turbines, or similar solutions helps drive down the costs of green energy investments and can make the entire project pay off much faster. In reality, energy efficiency upgrades take little time and are paid off within several years’ time. 

What is Energy Efficiency?

But these upgrades come in so many forms and kinds that navigating the energy efficiency market can be quite difficult. We could simplify the complex here and simply say that energy efficiency is best reflected in the ability to provide the same amount or volume of products and services while using less energy. This results in less energy being used per product or an instance of service. It enables you, as a business owner or operator, to save energy and money – ultimately enabling you to reduce energy costs and product or service-associated costs. 

For over a decade, US businesses have been competing in their strive to cut back on their carbon emissions and energy use. Using more natural light, LED lights, insulating the buildings, and investing in modern, energy-efficient machines and appliances are just some of the most common efficiency measures that efficiency programs support and business owners would strive for. However, even once you know what products and services the energy efficiency market entails, the question remains: how to be energy efficient? 

How to Be Energy Efficient?

Indeed, the question is complex, as no two homes or businesses have exactly the same energy use patterns and habits. The situation is similar with homes as well: two homes on the same street with very little difference in the appliances and HVAC systems can have very different energy use patterns and energy needs. While one may have been made to save energy, run on renewable energy, and has all Energy Star appliances, the old one may have outdated appliances, old insulation, and small windows – rendering the energy use in the latter much higher than in the former home. 

A similar phenomenon may be seen with businesses as well: energy-efficient appliances, energy-efficient buildings, and energy-efficient machines will use much less energy than those that can traditionally be found in older buildings or buildings that have not been invested in for a while. Energy management in both households and businesses is becoming as important as finding a good energy plan or an energy broker. 

In addition to lower operations costs, implementing newer, energy-efficient products can also help you save on maintenance costs, as tens of millions of homes in the US can testify: less breakage and longer times between switching out appliances that already use less energy can result in massive savings and reduced energy consumption. Energy efficient upgrades pay off, and this happens quickly, usually in less than a decade, for more complex systems, such as rooftop solar panels. 

Home Energy Audit

In fact, the need for all these improvements and standardization on the road to using only green energy in the grid has resulted in many utility companies being able to offer both business and home energy audits. Although it may seem counterintuitive that a utility company that sells electricity would want you to use less energy, it comes as no surprise once you realize that the savings they can make on modernizing and expanding the grid capacity are massive – usually in the tens of millions of dollars per town/city that they are in charge of. 

A home energy audit is a complex assessment of your home’s energy potential, energy use, as well as an inspection or estimation of areas that you could save in. Sometimes, a simple upgrade such as reinstalling insulation materials can reduce your home energy use (and carbon emissions) by 30-40 percent, while installing new windows and doors can help as much, if not even more. Changing lights, water pumps, major appliances, and investing in the thermal envelope of your home will reduce your utility usage, so that more energy can be saved both home- and grid-wise. 

A common home energy audit includes, but is not limited to: 

• Inspecting your roof insulation, 
• Inspecting wall insulation, 
• Inspecting basement insulation (if you have one), 
• Inspecting your major appliances, 
• Inspecting smaller appliances, 
• Inspecting your monthly and annual energy use, 
• Assessing your energy habits. 

Once you have a complete picture of how you use your energy, a good energy professional will provide a detailed plan to improve your energy use. This plan, especially if done by a high-end energy professional, will include details on how much you could save and how to best use these savings to improve your energy efficiency even further, resulting in massive savings and much lower energy bills within a few years. 

Changing your heating bodies, aid conditioning, switching to LED lighting, using more renewable energy, and possibly purchasing electric vehicles are just some of the common advice on how to use less energy throughout the day. Using more energy is okay, especially for those just getting settled, but more energy means higher bills and less money in your pocket in the long run. Remember that energy savings are cumulative in nature and that you can do a lot today to save a lot tomorrow. 

Energy Star Label

A big portion of an energy audit will be energy savings through the appliances you use around your home. Good energy management will mean that you can save energy with every appliance you use and that you will be able to understand how higher energy use can have a detrimental environmental impact. Smart devices, low-standby-power devices, and smart controls can all help you regain control over how much energy you use. 

The best of the best are Energy Star-Label products. These appliances and devices have been made in such a way that they use less energy and reduce energy costs every time you run them. Energy-efficient appliances can easily use 30% less energy when compared to their regular counterparts, and if this is not enough to convince you to opt for these appliances, just consider how many times a year you run your washer and dryer. Making each of these two use 30% less energy will mean that you get up to 30% of cycles of free. 

In a home where the washer and dryer are run twice a week, or around 100 times a year, you may be able to get up to 30 of these cycles completely for free. Now, this is a great thing for both your pocket and your carbon foorpting. As tens of millions of homes around the globe know, purchasing Energy Star Label appliances is a form of investment rather than an expense. 

Companies that Offer Energy Efficient Products & Services

As energy efficiency and the transition to a green energy-based economy is the fight for the 21st century, it is necessary to note that this green economy climate has given rise to a number of energy efficiency companies and their products. Indeed, the market seems insatiable, and the only way to ensure all the needs are met is constant innovation and further investment into the field. 

As energy consumption rises despite efforts for energy-efficient upgrades, changing the mentality of the 20th century is also needed: people should be educated and aware of all the benefits that a green future has to offer. One of the biggest success stories in the field is that of Tesla, the largest electric vehicle producer in the world. 

Following its example, many leading companies in the automotive industry have started implementing hybrid and all-electric vehicles in their production lines, changing the face of an entire industry in a matter of years. The companies have seen that a single company has managed to evoke the need for a reliable, long-range electric vehicle in an audience that has been focused on diesel and petrol vehicles only in the years before. 

Electric vehicles today are among the most sold vehicles in the world, a trend that is expected only to increase in the upcoming years. Besides them, Johnson Controls, Vivant, and Nest also did their share to help the energy transition. Let’s consider them in more detail. 

Johnson Controls

Johnson Controls is a company that focuses n home energy efficiency. It is among the largest energy-efficiency companies, producing energy-efficient appliances and HVAC systems, smart home control systems, and smart thermostats. There is a need for further integration between their products and those of other similar companies, but the standardization of the market should allow this over time. 

Tesla

Tesla, on the other hand, is an electric vehicle company that has managed to expand its business into energy solutions as well. Home and grid-scale energy storage solutions are what made the company famous, and the merger between Tesla and Solar City enabled the latter to avoid bankruptcy. The company has also managed to produce solar shingles, to be placed on roofs instead of solar panels. The company hopes to continue having a positive environmental impact while enabling its customers to both generate and store more energy than before. 

Vivant

Vivant is a smart home control company and one of the most recognizable energy saving companies in the US. They offer software (the best example is their app), and other solutions for both home automation and remote control. The company focuses on smart energy use, reduced energy consumption, and creating streamlined systems that can be applied to any home to take back control over energy costs. 

Nest

Nest is one of the largest energy efficient companies (and energy efficiency companies) on the US soil. The first product issued by this company was a smart thermostat called the ‘Nest’. The product received an Energy Star Label and was the first thermostat ever to receive this label. The thermostat learns about your indoor temperature preferences and can automatically adjust the temperature to your needs, reducing energy use and saving you money. 

Over time, the company has expanded its palette of products. All of the products offered now are products that are listed as energy efficient. They help drive down the energy costs in your home and make reliance on renewable energy easier, in particular by reducing your energy consumption. The products they offer include: 

• Speakers, 
• Displays, 
• Streaming, 
• WiFi routers, 
• Smoke and CO alarms, 
• Door locks, 
• Cameras, 
• Doorbells, 
• Thermostats, and 
• Other accessories include power cables, smart plugs, temperature sensors, and even solar panels for their security cameras. 

The Most Energy Efficient Companies in the US

There are hundreds of energy-efficient companies out there, but only a few made it to the top of our list. These companies employ tens of thousands of people, they have low energy costs and are generally considered to be very energy efficient. These companies have managed to implement energy-efficient solutions, usually from multiple perspectives, to reduce their carbon footprint and gain access to more renewable energy. 

Their efforts are not only visible in purchasing electric vehicles for their fleet, but they also rely on wind and solar power to gain more energy. These companies are some of the best efficiency projects out there and are likely to outshine many other companies. Their customers will be happy to know that the products they use come from companies responsible to the environment. Here is the list of the most energy-efficient companies in the US: 

• Citi Bank, 
• Coca-Cola, 
• FedEx Express, 
• Google Inc, 
• Intel Corporation, 
• JP Morgan and Chace Co, 
• Microsoft Corporation, 
• Samsung Electronics, 
• Starbucks, and 
• Wal-Mart. 

Citi Bank 

Citi Bank has 239,000 employees and was founded in 1812 in New York City. The bank is one of the largest banks in the US and is also the one that insists on energy efficiency the most. One of the most energy-efficient companies on the US soil, the bank has managed to slash its energy costs and energy consumption, using as many as 100,000,000 (a hundred million) kWh per year from renewable energy sources, including solar power. 

The bank also offers a variety of energy-efficient products, such as loans and other forms of banking products, for those who want to improve their energy efficiency. Citi Bank has also partnered with Kilowatt Financial to help homeowners improve the energy efficiency of their own homes. The program that has resulted from the cooperation helps homeowners change their boilers, old windows, lighting solutions, and even insulation. 

Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola employed over 129,000 employees and was founded in 1886 in Georgia. The company uses 53,000,000 kWh of renewable energy per year. So far, the company has managed to save tens of millions of dollars by drawing more energy from renewable sources and implementing LED lighting, as well as advanced refrigeration techniques that reduce energy consumption and energy costs. 

The company was ever honored by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) for their efforts to significantly reduce their energy usage. The energy management devices and software that the company has developed for its own needs have managed to reduce their energy consumption by around 35% – an impressive result considering how large the company actually s. LED lighting and over 30,000 energy-efficient coolers are just a portion of the total project that one of the most energy-efficient companies has undertaken. 

FedEx Express 

The FedEx Express company is also one of the energy-efficiency companies on our list. The company draws a part of its power from renewable energy sources and has invested heavily in energy efficiency measures in its office spaces. The company has introduced a centralized approach to their operations and HVAC maintenance and operations and manages to save (not use from green sources) over 22,000,000 kWh per year. 

The state-of-the-art control systems operate in all their offices and can even automatically shut off their air conditioning if the company employees are on vacation. This helps them save massive amounts of money and provide a better service to their customers. FexEx Express is also electrifying its fleet to provide carbon-free transport of packages from and to their customers, investing at the same time in sustainability and modernizing their equipment. 

Google Inc

Google was founded in 1998 in California. Currently, Google Inc employs over 61,000 people and is one of the energy efficiency companies on our list that has taken a multi-faceted approach to energy efficiency. Although this may seem more difficult than with other companies on the list, such as FedEx Express, Google Inc has still managed to find a way to do just so. The company started investing in green solutions and sustainable solutions over a decade ago, with goats being used to take care of their lawns being one of the best examples of the level of innovative thinking that the company is ready to dedicate to the issue of sustainability and getting more green power to power their equipment. 

In reality, the way that Google has managed to get so much green electricity and provide the best possible search service to its customers lies in a multi-faceted approach to energy sourcing. First of all, Google purchases 24 percent of its power from other green energy producers. It also gets 37 percent of its energy from its own generation capacity and another 13 percent from sources that are on the grid but not necessarily affiliated with Google. Google Inc has also invested a lot into developing energy-efficient products for their facilities and for sale, as the Nest company clearly shows. 

Intel Corporation

Intel was founded in 1968 in California. Today, Intel Corporation employs more than 107,000 employees. They focus on the production of green and eco-friendly computer chips and processors and has focused on developing a green path for themselves. The company boasts their green microprocessors and other energy-efficiency products and services. 

Intel Corporation is also the company with the highest green energy use in the world, with more than 3,000,000,000 (3 Billion!) kWh of green power used per year. This green power mostly comes from solar power and wind power. Approximately 88% of the company’s operations are powered by renewable energy. 

JP Morgan and Chase Co

JP Morgan and Chase Co was founded in 2000. It employs more than 235,000 people. This company is headquartered in New York City, and uses more than 211,000,000 kWh of green power per year. Energy efficiency is high on their priority list. The company is one of the rare companies in the US that have received LEED certification, and their sustainability efforts and heavy investment into green equipment and technology for their own spaces awarded them with Platinum Certification. 

Microsoft Corporation

Microsoft employs over 118,000 people. The company was founded in 1975 in New Mexico and uses 2.7 Billion kWh of green energy per year. This helps them offset tens of millions of pounds of CO2 from the atmosphere. This obviously means that the company has invested in more than LED lighting in their offices to be able to be called one of the top energy efficiency companies. Energy efficiency runs strong in Microsoft, as the company testified when it purchased 175 Megawatts of wind energy from the Plot Hill Wind Project in Illinois. 

In addition to wind power, Microsoft also relies on biogas, biomass, hydro, and solar power to power its offices and data centers. The company also invests heavily in CO2 extraction technology to help mitigate climate change. Similarly to Coca-Cola and Google Inc, it is the Microsoft company’s multifaceted approach that ensures their success. 

Samsung Electronics 

Samsung Electronics was founded in 1977 in New Jersey. It employs more than 300,000 people and is one of the biggest tech companies in the world. Its energy efficiency efforts have saved the company tens of millions of dollars (and pounds of CO2), and have deemed it one of the greenest companies today. Samsung Electronics purchases green energy credits to offset any carbon dioxide released during its operations. 

The company has won several Energy Star Partner of the Year Awards for their green(ifying) efforts, and their customers can enjoy hundreds of energy-efficiency products and services. The sustainability goals of the company are also being met by using modern equipment that use less electricity than their standard counterparts, as energy efficiency is one of the symbols of the company. Their Energy Star appliances and other tech they produce also help individuals reach their sustainability goals. 

Starbucks

Starbucks is one of the most recognizable American brands. It was founded in 1971 in Washington and has expanded worldwide since. The company employs 191,000 people and uses almost 700 million green kilowatt hours of electricity every year. The business flourishes, and so do its sustainability efforts – providing its customers with excellent services for a fraction of the energy spent when compared to their counterparts. 

All their cafes are powered by a 70-30 mix of green energy, which mostly comes from wind power. Other efforts include installing Energy Management Systems in their cafes to better use energy for both heating and cooling. With these in place, Starbucks can now save more than 25% of the total energy it uses. 

Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart employs 1.4 million people in the US alone. Considering that Wal-Mart is an international company, the total number of employees is 2.2 million. Their approach to elevating energy efficiency in their spaces is holistic: they generate their own green power, invest in modernizing their equipment, and partner with other companies to purchase RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates) to ensure that their energy input is as green as possible. 

Wal-Mart also invests heavily in the generation capacities on the site. The company has solar panels in many of its warehouses and stores, making the company one of the greenest companies in the country. Tens of millions of pounds of CO2 have never been released, thanks to Wal-Mart, as the company uses more than 300,000,000 kWh of green energy in their business practices per year. 

FAQs

Conclusion

Energy efficiency is becoming more important as we speak. Energy performance contracting, energy audits, state capital projects, and federal projects, as well as efforts by business owners and their customers, all add up to the momentum that is as good for future generations as it is for us. The efforts to transition the economy to green energy sources are clear, and so far we have seen that every business can produce services and products with less energy and at a lower cost. 

More homes in the US than ever are powered by green energy, saving millions in money and carbon emissions. The services these homes purchase to greenify themselves help the economy and make energy efficiency a reality for all. In the future, even more homes will have their own solar panels which will help usher in a green economy, based on sustainability and waste management technology, rather than the wasteful, single-way economy of today. 

Updated on 06-12-23