At the Secretarial Honor and Presidential Rank Awards, the DOE Building Technologies Office’s Appliance and Equipment Standards (ASP) Program won a Secretary of Energy Achievement Award, under the leadership of John Cymbalsky, for its work last year on finalizing a record 13 standards, including the largest energy-saving standard in U.S. history. Award-winning teams must have demonstrated cooperation and teamwork en-route to accomplishing significant achievements on behalf of DOE and attaining their goals.

Since 2009, this dedicated group of 33 DOE employees has issued energy efficiency standards for a range of products – over 40 in all – including clothing washers and dryers and commercial refrigeration equipment. In 2015 alone, American consumers saved $63 billion on their utility bills as a result of these standards. The entire program covers more than 60 products, representing about 90% of home energy use, 60% of commercial building energy use, and 30% of industrial energy use.

At ASP’s current pace, they will finish their final set of the Obama Administration’s standards by the end of the year. This will cumulatively keep 3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide, or an entire year’s worth of power plant emissions, from ever entering the atmosphere, thereby achieving one of the most ambitious goals in President Obama’s Climate Action Plan.

Cymbalsky has been a major force in driving the Appliance and Equipment Standards Program toward this achievement. Only weeks before this announcement, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy named Cymbalsky a “Champion of Energy Efficiency,” a peer-nominated award for energy efficiency leaders who have demonstrated excellence in research and development, energy policy, implementation and deployment, buildings leadership, or lifetime achievement.