An Unsung Hero

John Hoffman died on September 24.  Here are the opening of the obituary that ran recently in the NY Times:

John Hoffman, who helped shape an international treaty in the 1980s to protect the ozone layer and later developed the Energy Star program, a widely recognized government stamp of approval for energy-efficient products, died on Sept. 24 in Washington.

We have gotten too used to the media and politicians trashing bureaucrats.  Mr. Hoffman was a bureaucrat.  He was also a creative thinker who created the Energy Star program to leverage market competition, consumer education and technological innovation to expand the reach of the EPA beyond the political battles of regulation.

Mr. Hoffman’s idea has done as much as anyone’s to reduce wasteful energy use in the US, also reducing air pollution and the need to burn up more of our rapidly diminishing national resources.  He also did his work quietly, in the background, which is also unusual.  His work and accomplishments deserve recognition, so I am recognizing him here.