Energy Star Program Not So Reliable?
A originally reported by the New York Times, an internal audit conducted by the Department of Energy has determined that is is not properly tracking all appliances possessing the Energy Star label. This means that all of those Energy Star appliances so many have bought on the premise that they are energy efficient, may be using more energy and costing you more than you expected.
Just as recent as last month, the Department of Energy and the EPA implemented a memorandum that would allow them to jointly set the standards for the Energy Star program. The only problem with this is that Congress passed legislation earlier this summer that delegated the task specifically to the DOE. The major problem with this issue stated by Senator Bingaman:
There are questions about stakeholder involvement in this process and effects on DOE and EPA staffing and budget.
I have heard complaints about the program in the past, but I never realized how bad. This problem may seem insignificant, but it truly needs to be fixed if consumers are able to trust the energy star label. The government is allowing manufacturers to knowingly lie about their products and use the government’s name in the process.
Hopefully this problem can be fixed before more and more people get burned by this deceiving label.
That’s unfortunate to hear, especially because studies have shown that Energy Star is one of the most trusted labels, and this could impact how consumers view any eco-label. There’s already confusion because there are so many different labels out there (over 400)…
Wow I am surprised that this program was not better monitored. It is the most well known energy efficient labels, yet its usage may mean nothing. Unfortunately most consumers will never hear about this discrepancy and keep on trusting the lies.