The government’s successful Energy Star labeling program—which homeowners trust to identify the most efficient appliances, electronics, and other products on the market—came under scrutiny late last year by a government watchdog office that questioned the way energy savings were calculated as well as the performance of some of the branded products compared with their non-Energy Star–branded counterparts.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Inspector General conducted the independent evaluation of Energy Star products to determine whether the energy efficient performance claims complied with the program’s required specifications. (The report was covered in a Feb. 22 article in The Washington Post.)
The good news is that testers found that “almost all of the Energy Star products in our test sample met, and in most cases exceeded, the program’s performance standards,” the inspectors wrote in the Nov. 30, 2009, report. “However, selected non-Energy Star products performed comparably to, and in some cases better than, Energy Star products.”
The report recommended that EPA, which operates the Energy Star labeling program, enhance its testing program to be sure these products are, in fact, the more energy efficient and cost-effective choice for buyers.
EPA officials told The Washington Post that it took steps in 2009 to improve the program—including removing some products from the list. In January, for instance, “21 LG Electronics refrigerator models, including some under the Sears Kenmore brand, were removed from the ENERGY STAR Qualifying Product List,” the EPA said. “The ENERGY STAR label is to be removed from these refrigerator models because they failed to meet ENERGY STAR Program requirements.”
These efforts, officials said, will continue this year as the energy efficient rebate programs created by the Recovery Act ramp up.
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