ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2025 Update!
Most homeowners in metro Denver and surrounding areas are familiar with the ENERGY STAR label that they may see on anything from dryers and washing machines, to refrigerators, water heaters, light fixtures, TVs, and more. The ENERGY STAR label is awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), designating products that meet certain energy efficiency standards determined by the EPA.
In this blog post, a follow-up to previous posts on this topic, we’ll focus on products certified as ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2025. Some of these products fall under our umbrella at Save Home Heat Company – while others certainly don’t.
What is ENERGY STAR?
Launched in 1992, ENERGY STAR is an ever-evolving national program designed to help homeowners and businesses reduce energy usage, cut costs, and lower their environmental impact. When a product earns the ENERGY STAR label, it means it has been third-party tested and meets specific energy efficiency standards specified by the EPA. ENERGY STAR currently certifies products in 75 categories, including electronics, lighting, household appliances, and HVAC equipment, as well as certain commercial products.
ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2025
Each year, the ENERGY STAR program also recognizes a smaller, select group of superior performing products, which are classified as “ENERGY STAR Most Efficient [year].” According to the EPA, products within this category “deliver cutting-edge energy efficiency, along with the latest in technological innovation.”
Not every category is represented on the EPA’s ‘Most Efficient’ list each year, but that doesn’t mean those products have gotten less efficient! Tankless water heaters and furnaces, for example, haven’t appeared in the ‘Most Efficient’ assessment within the past few years. This appears to be a reflection of the ongoing national (and local) shift of focus toward electric-powered home comfort products. Accordingly, heat pump-powered products continue to make the list.
Some of the products that have been awarded ENERGY STAR Most Efficient certification in recent years (several of which sit under the Save Home Heat umbrella) include :
- Air conditioners
- Furnaces
- Heat pumps
- Boilers
- Many types of water heaters
- LED light bulbs and fixtures
- Decorative light strings
- Smart lighting systems
- Televisions and computer monitors
- Smart thermostats
- Electric cooking products
- Phones
- And more
ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2025 Categories & Products
Below you’ll find a quick rundown of the 12 categories that are covered under ENERGY STAR Most Efficient in 2025. Plenty more info. can be found on the program’s webpage. Please note, our team has taken the liberty of presenting these categories in a slightly different order than you’ll find on the EPA’s website, with a bit more focus on what our team at Save Home Heat Company does for a living:
Heating & Cooling
For our team at Save Home Heat and our customers in the Denver metro area, this category is the biggie in this post. For ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2025, the Heating & Cooling category is dominated exclusively by heat pumps. This includes certain high-end models of both central and mini-split heat pumps. As many homeowners now know, heat pumps provide both heating and cooling, are 100% electric powered, and are recognized as a “green” home comfort solution. They are more popular now than ever.
The operable minimum efficiency thresholds for heat pumps in this category are a SEER2 rating of 16.0 for cooling, and an HSPF2 of 8.0 for heating. Our customers at Save Home Heat routinely purchase heat pumps made by Mitsubishi and Lennox that have notably higher efficiency ratings than these standards. Our installers and service technicians are very experienced at installing and servicing a full range of heat pump products and systems.
Of note, there’s a separate section in the Heating & Cooling category that addresses geo-thermal heat pumps, also known as ground-source heat pumps. These types of heat pumps represent a small percentage of heat pumps being installed in our area, and don’t currently reside under our company umbrella. Lastly, to the best of our knowledge, heat pump water heaters are not covered in the 2025 listings, but it wouldn’t surprise us to see these innovative products join the list in coming years.
Other Most Efficient 2025 home comfort categories
Here’s an overview of other home comfort products that appear in ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2025:
Room Air Conditioners
There are a broad range of room air conditioners in the 2025 criteria for ENERGY STAR Most Efficient, including variables such as a reverse cycle, louvered sides, and a unit’s heating and cooling capacity. To be included on the 2025 list, depending on a model’s specific features, its minimum required efficiency ranges between from 12.8 to 16.0 CEER (Combined Energy Efficiency Ratio). Enough said!
Room air cleaners
Room air cleaners in this category are single-purpose air filtration products, and have what are called IEF (Integrated Energy Factor) efficiency ratings. We won’t bury you with numbers, but keep in mind that most high performance room air cleaners have efficiency ratings in the MERV8 to MERV10 range. Pretty good for a portable air filter. For comparison, our team at Save Home Heat Company installs plenty of high performance media furnace filters rated MERV11 and MERV16 (hospital grade), and the central HEPA filters we install are rated MERV17.
Ceiling Fans
In the interest of not weighing our readers down with minutia, this category also covers a broad range of products and features including fan diameter, mounting type, and more. On top of that, Most Efficient certification criteria is measured with a “weighted average efficiency” at different speeds or in different modes. We’re not going that deep, but feel free to visit the ENERGY STAR website.
Ventilating Fans
This category of residential fans is split into three classifications: bathroom and utility ventilating fans, in-line ventilating fans, and in-line fans with a specified air filter. Product qualification is determined by their effectiveness at high speed.
Dehumidifiers
Both portable and whole-home dehumidifiers are included on the list this year. They’re classified by their capacity and must meet specific IEF (Integrated Energy Factor) ratings determined by the EPA. In our normally arid climate in the Colorado Front Range, dehumidifiers are typically used only in unusual circumstances such as accompanying an indoor spa or pool, or possibly something a bit more mundane, maybe a sunroom or an attached greenhouse. We’ll quit while we’re ahead, here!
Windows, Sliding Glass Doors, Skylights & Tubular Daylighting Devices
The interesting thing about this category is that the criteria is different depending on the regional zone you live in, because sunlight hours and temperature vary so much throughout the country. Please feel free to dive deeper on your own, or consult a local specialty contractor about relevant U-factors and Solar Heat Gain Coefficients for our area.
ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2025 Home Appliances
Continuing our cavalcade of the EPA’s select most efficient products for 2025, in the home appliance arena you can find the following categories in ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2025 listings; we assume they’ve been included in the current list because they are significant home energy and/or water consumers:
Clothes Washers
Standard-sized washers, as well as all-in-one washer-dryers are included in this category. It’s worth noting that for all-in-one products, they must meet efficiency criteria for both washing and drying. For combo. products that have air-only drying, only washing criteria must be met. Once again, we won’t dive deep into efficiency ratings such as IMEF or IWF numbers, which relate to energy and water consumption. Please be our guest to research further on your own. For our purposes, here, suffice to say that clothes washers are another category chosen by the EPA for ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2025 coverage.
Dryers
Another significant home energy user, dryers are often listed in this higher-end ENERGY STAR grading. Dryers on this list must meet two different efficiency qualifications, one at a “normal” setting and another at the highest heat setting. We’ll leave it at that.
Refrigerators & Freezers
Criteria within this category varies significantly due to the wide range of products available. They are classified between standard and compact refrigerators, and standard and compact freezers. As above, we’ll do our best not to bore you with lots of numbers and rating nomenclature. Look or inquire further, if you like. Once again, Save Home Heat doesn’t function in this area.
Dishwashers
Compact and commercial dishwashers are not included in this category. For standard dishwashers, to qualify for ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2025 they must have an annual energy usage of less than or equal to 225 kilowatt hours per year, and they cannot consume more than 3.2 gallons per cycle.
Computer monitors: the only electronic devices in Most Efficient 2025
All by it’s lonesome in Most Efficient 2025 Home Electronics are computer monitors in their own category. This time around, there’s no computers, TVs, phones, media players, etc. Please visit the standard ENERGY STAR page to view those items.
Rebates & Tax Credits for ‘ENERGY STAR Most Efficient’ Heating, Hot Water, and Cooling Products!
Serving the utility needs of many homeowners in the Denver metro area, Xcel Energy recently announced that their already substantial high efficiency central and mini-split heat pump rebates for qualifying products have been tripled through much of 2025! Our team at Save Home Heat Company is on top of these updates – If a heat pump is in your plans for the near future, we recommend getting started now. Please note, we handle all Xcel and manufacturer rebate submittals for our customers!
There may also be valuable state and federal tax credits and rebates available for a wide variety of qualifying high efficiency home purchases – heating, cooling, and more! First step: Speak with your tax advisor for professional financial recommendations. Second step: Reach out to your trusted local contactor – like our team at Save Home Heat – to help connect the dots. The Colorado Energy Office, EnergySmart Colorado, the IRS, and ENERGY STAR websites are all places that you can begin researching before enlisting professional tax advice.
ENERGY STAR Most Efficient 2025 Products in the Boulder-Denver Metro Area
For expert assistance and recommendations for ENERGY STAR certified heating, cooling, or hot water systems, and other products suited to your needs that are handled by our team at Save Home Heat, please reach out to us today. Among other high efficiency products that we’ve been installing for many years, we are heat pump specialists that you can count on!
In the Denver Metro, Boulder, and Loveland-Longmont areas, reach out to our friendly team at Save Home Heat Company to schedule a highly informative, zero pressure, free install quote for solutions that are the right fit for you and for your home.
