Earth Equity News

Energy Star Report Indicates Flaws in System, Highlighting CFLs. By Matthew L. Wald, NYTimes, October 19, 2009. "The Energy Star program, run by the government, is supposed to bestow a seal of approval on consumer products that use less energy than competing models. But it has a number of flaws, as laid out in a new report released by the inspector general of the Energy Department [PDF, 13 pp], which administers the program with the Environmental Protection Agency... One concern is that manufacturers are allowed test the energy consumption of the products themselves, rather than requiring testing from independent laboratories... [Another is] that the department was giving the Energy Star label to almost all compact fluorescent bulbs, making it hard for a consumer to choose among them. (The Energy Star label is supposed to go to the 25% of models that are most efficient.)... The department recognizes these problems and plans to fix them, in accordance with a Sept. 30 memorandum of understanding with the E.P.A. But there is no set timetable."