The department of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has a requirement to create benchmarking platforms that will align the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR program for industry certification seamlessly across the U.S. and Canada, in the following eight industrial sectors: cement, fertilizer, motor vehicle assembly, motor vehicle engines, motor vehicle transmissions, steel mini-mills, commercial baking, as well as non-integrated paper and paperboard. The Canadian component of the work is to be based on ENERGY STAR benchmarking tools, which were developed under an exclusive work agreement between the U.S. EPA and Duke University. These ENERGY STAR benchmarking tools (reference: plant energy performance indicators or EPI) can help a company to know how efficiently its plant uses energy relative to other plants across the U.S. and Canada, and the top quartile will be recognized as being the best-in-class performers
