Oooooh, cat fight! EPA and Consumer Reports go at it!

The October issue of Consumer Reports feautured an article entitled: "Energy Star has lost some luster".

It was fairly scathing in its assessment of whether Energy Star appliances actually live up to their quoted energy consumption rates. Some excerpts:

"Such a loophole lets manufacturers label products more energy efficient than we've found them to be, and they get the Energy Star and its cachet when you won’t see those savings."

"Qualifying standards are lax, Tests are out of date, Companies test their own products."

Ouch.

The EPA? Not happy.

Some excerpts:

"The article misses the basic purpose of the ENERGY STAR program. ENERGY STAR helps consumers not just find energy-efficient products, but ones that will cost-effectively help them save money while protecting our environment. Indeed, by providing this type of information for more than 15 years, the ENERGY STAR program has helped prevent 40 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 27 million vehicles while saving Americans more than $16 billion on their utility bills in 2007 alone.

To accomplish this, EPA initially seeks to have about 25 percent of available models meet the ENERGY STAR criteria when they are first established for a product category. Increasing the market share of qualifying products from their initial levels is a goal of the program — not a fundamental flaw or an indication that the requirements are lax, as the article suggests."

Consumer Reports responded with a letter (annoyingly available only in PDF.)

It's a whole lotta "we stand by our article."

My, my, my.

I've been putting off buying new appliances for while...our dishwasher and dryer definitely aren't performing like they used to, and our fridge would work better if we bought a differently configured one. These appliances are over a decade old for sure, if not original from the first owner.

I do hate to tell the EPA, but I think I will turn to Consumer Reports before I just take a look at an Energy Star rating.

What about you?

Comments

[Mo]

Hmmm...very interesting. I've been looking into alternatives to a traditional refrigerator and other appliances, many ideas for which I've found in the book The Carbon Free Home, but in the meantime, it's good to know that Energy Star products might not be all they're cracked up to be.