The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have outlined a series of steps to further strengthen the trusted Energy Star program. In addition to third-party testing already underway, EPA and DOE have launched a new two-step process to expand testing of Energy Star qualified products. This week, DOE began testing of some of the most commonly used appliances, which account for more than 25 percent of a household’s energy bill, and both agencies are now developing a system to test all products that earn the Energy Star label.