Energy efficiency....everyone wants it. We just recently were shopping for a refrigerator. We knew the accessories we wanted, the color, and we knew we wanted energy efficiency. So we packed into the car and headed out to store. Our experience was far from seamless. The idea of efficiency seems like a no-brainer but unless you know what you are looking for and how to decipher what you see, you can make a mistake.
If you’re shopping for products from appliances to plumbing systems with energy efficient performance there are three rating programs (the Consortium on Energy Efficiency [CEE], Energy Star, and Energy Guide) that you should be looking to for guidance.
Energy Star is the popular organization, but for an even higher standard of energy performance ratings go to the CONSORTIUM FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY (CEE).
CEE rates appliances, electronics, lighting, HVAC systems, and gas heating systems. Be warned, the CEE does not put labels on the products that meet their criteria, so download the list from their website before you shop.
CEE ratings are so stringent that the highest-rated Energy Star products are considered the low end of CEE’s roster.
Appliances and HVAC systems are grouped into three tiers, taking both energy performance and water usage into account.
- Tier 1 products meet Energy Star requirements at a minimum.
- Tier 3 products are super-efficient—the cream of the crop.
CEE updates its ratings every month.
Pricing: Often high-efficiency products rated by CEE (and Energy Star) are more expensive than their less-efficient peers, but may cost less to operate annually.
ENERGY STAR, which is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s label, identifies the top 25% of each product category it rates in terms of energy performance. It’s the best-known and most widely applied green stamp of approval, covering more than 50 product categories.
Energy Star beefed up its standards after getting bad press in 2010 and its standards get more stringent every two years to coincide with manufacturing cycles for new products.
Often high-efficiency products rated by Energy Star are more expensive than their less-efficient counterparts, but you save money on annual operating costs.
ENERGY GUIDE: What does that yellow Energy Guide sticker mean? Energy Guide lists the manufacturers’ self-reported performance numbers, not the results of independent third-party testing. The numbers may not reflect how you’ll use the product in your own home (do you make a special effort to use the most energy-efficient settings at all times, or do you dry tons of laundry on high heat?) or the rates your utility charges.
So if you use Energy Guide labels at all, use them to compare models in the store in terms of up-front cost vs. annual operating cost. But the labels don’t provide enough context to tell you whether a product is really the best energy-saving deal you can get for the price. That’s where Energy Star and CEE come in.
Energy Guide labels are government mandated and appear on all products in all price ranges. So it’s not a way to sort by price.
Here are some links that may help you in your efforts:
Consortium for Energy Efficiency website: http://www.cee1.org/
Energy Star website: http://www.energystar.gov/
How to read the Energy Guide label: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/homes/rea14.shtm
Energy efficient.....lots to understand to be it!
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