The Energy Star program was created by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission by power plants. The Energy Star is an international standard for energy efficient consumer products and was first created as a United States government program by the Clinton Administration in 1992.

Companies test their own products....
The DOE does not test products for compliance with its Energy Star standards; manufacturers do it. And there's no independent verification of what they report. Rather, the government relies on manufacturers to test their competitors' appliances and notify it of suspicious energy-use claims.

Fox and the henhouse.....