Wisdom from The Action Wisdom In Action

Using EnergyStar Efficiency Ratings to Save Energy? Think Again

From Daily Finance. I wrote about this before here.

"Created in 1992, the distinctive blue stickers indicate that a device uses 20%-30% less electricity than mandated by federal standards. Within the last two years, however, the program has come under attack for making dubious claims, mislabeling its products, or insufficiently verifying manufacturers' claims.

The first chink in the Energy Star brand came late in 2008, when the EPA's Inspector General found that the many of the program's alleged benefits could not be demonstrated. In 2006, for example, Energy Star claimed to have reduced carbon waste by 37 million metric tons and saved consumers $14 billion in electric costs. The Inspector General's office found that these claims were unproven, and that the EPA had relied upon "unverified third-party reporting." This latter finding was to prove particularly damaging: ApplianceAdvisor noted that (among other problems) much of the Energy Star testing was conducted by appliance manufacturers who had a vested interest in getting the program's coveted blue label -- and charging customers extra money for it."

...

"Earlier this year, Congressional auditors submitted twenty fictitious appliances for Energy Star certification. The whimsical products -- including a gasoline-powered alarm clock, an air filter with attached feather duster, and a metal roof panel -- were submitted with insufficient documentation and no third-party verification of their energy consumption claims. Yet fifteen were granted Energy Star verification, often within days of the request. Of the five that didn't get the certification, only two were rejected by the program. The other three were voluntarily withdrawn."

What do you think goes on over at Consumer Labs? The exact same thing, only it charges you for info access.

Here's what I wrote about a way to find up-to-date, accurate, actually-tested info on appliances:

"If you are looking for appliances MORE efficient than the much-touted Energy Star ones, go here to ACEEE--they actually give you performance numbers to look for, instead of government-created performance ratings from well-lobbied companies. Energy Star appliances are only about 20% more efficient than their predecessors--close enough for government work, right? There's better out there if you can (and want to) afford it, and ACEEE ratings can give you as much as 50% more efficiency."

Posted by Cute at 7:57 PM

Labels: financial (non-tax), politics, social issues