Shoppers are used to seeing a yellow-and-black label attached to an appliance with the Energy Star logo and information about the machine’s energy usage. When you’re in the market for a new appliance, you should take a minute to look at the Energy Star label and compare a machine’s features with those of other models.
What is an Energy Star label?
The Energy Star program was launched in 1980, requiring manufacturers of computers and peripheral equipment to comply with controlled energy usage. The program later expanded to include many household appliances, which is how most consumers know the term today.
Newly manufactured appliances must report estimated annual energy usage per machine. The information must be posted on the machine’s Energy Star label so that shoppers can compare it with others.
Energy Star has been so successful that governments of other nations have adopted nearly identical standards.
What information is on the Energy Star label?
The label provides the expected annual energy usage measured by an average weekly usage established by consumer surveys. Using washing machines as an example, energy usage is based on the tub’s capacity for six wash loads per week, which is considered an average family’s usage.
Continuing with the washing machine example, the Energy Star label shows:
- The type of machine
- The manufacturer
- The model number
- The size capacity of the machine
- The estimated yearly energy cost in dollars
- The cost range for similar machines and where this particular machine falls in the range
- The estimated number of kilowatt hours for use for one year
- The estimated yearly energy cost if the water is heated by natural gas versus electricity
Comparing apples to apples
For an accurate comparison, you should examine machines with similar specifications. Again, with washers, you should compare compact with compact and standard with standard unless you’re considering a change in size from what you currently have.
You could also compare the cost differences between a front-loading machine and a top-loading version that otherwise has the same capacity.
When two machines of identical specifications differ in estimated energy cost, it is sometimes because they have different run times in one or more periods of their operating cycles.
Related – What Every Consumer Should Know About Energy Star
