WASHINGTON, DC, October 30, 2008 (ENS) – Televisions meeting the federal government’s new, more comprehensive energy efficiency specification will be available in stores nationwide, starting on Saturday. TVs that meet the new Energy Star specification will be up to 30 percent more energy efficient than conventional models.

“EPA encourages consumers to look for the Energy Star label when buying new televisions,” said U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson. “Energy Star’s new specifications for televisions are turning the channel on energy guzzling sets.”

There are about 275 million TVs currently in use in the United States, consuming over 50 billion kilowatt hours of energy each year – about four percent of all households’ electricity use. This is enough electricity to power all the homes in the state of New York for an entire year, according to federal government calculations.
All brands of new TVs must be more energy-efficient if they want to carry the Energy Star label. (Photo credit unknown)

If all televisions sold in the United States met the new Energy Star requirements, the savings in energy costs would be about $1 billion annually and greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by the equivalent of about one million cars, Johnson said.

The Version 3.0 Energy Star TV products specification was finalized on February 4, 2008. It requires energy efficiency when televisions are on, as well as off or in standby mode.

It also requires the use of external power supplies that have earned the Energy Star label, where applicable. This new specification is important since televisions being sold now are larger, in use more hours a day, and offer more vibrant pictures, which can increase the amount of electricity they use.

In fact, some of the largest, high resolution televisions can use as much as 500 kilowatt hours per year.

The new specification applies to all brands of television sets. Manufacturers have qualified their models ahead of the November 1, 2008 effective date. Energy Star qualified televisions can be found at most stores where electronics are sold.

Consumers who want to buy new TVs are encouraged to ask their sales associates for newly qualified Energy Star sets to ensure they are getting a television that qualifies under this enhanced specification.

Even more energy efficient televisions are on the way. Energy Star has just added energy-efficiency guidelines for digital cable ready televisions with a point of deployment, POD, slot.

These TVs add the functions of a cable box to the television set by using a card that users can get from their local cable operators. Energy Star qualified versions of these TVs are not yet available, but look for them in the future.

The Energy Star program was introduced by the U.S. EPA and the U.S. Energy Department in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce energy use through efficiency standards.

Today, the Energy Star label can be found on more than 50 different kinds of products as well as buildings and new homes. Products that have earned the Energy Star label prevent greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the government.

Federal government data show that in 2007, Americans using Energy Star products saved $16 billion on their energy bills while reducing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 27 million vehicles.

To see ENS previous coverage of the new Energy Star TV specification, click here [www.ens-newswire.com].

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It is good to know what your government is doing in regards to the state of the environment. The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) started a program called Energy Star in 1992. Energy Star is a voluntary organization that entreats companies who make electrical devices to include a special label on their products. In order for a product to qualify for an Energy Star label, it must meet strict energy efficiency standards set by the Energy Star program.

The idea here is to point consumer attention towards products that promote responsible consumption of natural resources. This seems to be one of the more realistic approaches to solving the climate crisis, since we all know somebody is always going to want a microwave or an air conditioner, no matter how bad the environmental problems might get. Conservation is a great way to get your cake and eat it too. Read more below to find out about the new pledge you can make at the Energy Star Website.

Join Countless Other People Taking The Pledge [www.energystar.gov]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is launching a national campaign to help Americans join in the fight against climate change. The campaign, “Change the World, Start with Energy Star” helps people make important energy-efficient changes at home and at work that can add up to significant reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases.

“Environmental responsibility is everyone’s responsibility and this Earth Day, we are encouraging people to take common sense steps to reduce their climate footprints,” said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. “Through our new ‘Change the World: Start with ENERGY STAR’ campaign, we are helping people save green by going green.”

The campaign builds on the success of the Energy Star Change a Light campaign by providing a set of steps people can take to save money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In addition to replacing at least one light in the home with an Energy Star one, the new Energy Star pledge encourages consumers to:

- Make home heating and cooling systems work more efficiently
- Make sure homes are well sealed and insulated
- Enable the power management features on home computers and monitors
- Choose an Energy Star qualified refrigerator, dishwasher and/or clothes washer when replacing or purchasing new appliances

Taking energy efficient steps at home and at work can make an important difference in addressing climate change. Buildings contribute about 40% of the nation’s emissions of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas, as most of the energy used in buildings comes from the burning of fossil fuels. These emissions can be reduced substantially through energy efficiency and the steps of the Energy Star pledge. If every American household took part in this new Energy Star pledge, we would save more than $18 billion in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 18 million cars..

Individuals can take the pledge online at www.energystar.gov

WASHINGTON, DC, March 17, 2008 (ENS) – Next year, clothes washers that are much more efficient than current appliances will be coming on the market. The new washers will have to use less water than those now on sale, and they also must be more energy efficient.

As of July 1, 2009, manufacturers will have to make their washers meet a higher standard if they want to qualify the appliances to carry the government’s Energy Star® label.

Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formed in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based program that seeks to reduce air pollution through increased energy efficiency.

“The Energy Star program provides consumers with greater options for purchasing energy efficient products to save money and energy,” said Andy Karsner, the Energy Department’s assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy

“More stringent Energy Star criteria for clothes washers … means more consumers can make smart energy choices and help further the nation’s goal of increasing efficiency and energy productivity, resulting in significant energy savings and greater economic competitiveness,” he said.

This Energy Star qualified Whirlpool washer
will be held to a stricter standard come
July 2009. (Photo courtesy Whirlpool)

The new requirements for clothes washers carrying the Energy Star label will take effect in two phases.

In order to qualify, clothes washers must be a minimum of 43 percent more efficient than current federal energy efficiency standards with a maximum Water Factor of 7.5, as of July 1, 2009.

The Water Factor measures water efficiency and is calculated as gallons of water used per cubic foot of capacity – the lower the Water Factor, the more efficient the clothes washer.

Then in the second phase, from January 1, 2011, clothes washers must be a minimum of 59 percent more efficient than current federal energy efficiency standards with a maximum Water Factor of 6.0.

After the 2011 criteria change for clothes washers, consumers across the country are expected to save a total of $120 million on utility bills annually.

The Energy Department calculates buyers will also save 11.2 billion gallons of water, and 659 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year.

The agency projects that 1.9 million Energy Star qualified clothes washers built to the new criteria will be sold the first year they are available, saving Americans up to $92.4 million annually on their water and utility bills.

Currently, clothes washers qualified to the Energy Star standard use 75 percent less energy than clothes washer models manufactured in 1980. The current Energy Star criteria for clothes washers, last modified in January 2007, were drafted with input from stakeholders and public review and comment.

To learn more about Energy Star®, and to view the revised program requirements, visit [url]www.EnergyStar.gov[/url] or call 1-888-STAR-YES.

There are at least 225 models of clothes washers on the U.S. market that meet the current Energy Star criteria, made by 27 different manufacturers.

For a complete list of Energy Star qualified washers, click here [www.energystar.gov].

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DALLAS, Texas, February 15, 2008 (ENS) – Schools, courthouses, residences, hotels, markets – a total of 356 top performing Texas buildings earned an Energy Star for energy efficiency in 2007. This was enough for Texas to lead all other states in the most greenhouse gas reductions from Energy Star buildings, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, said Wednesday.

The Energy Star buildings in Texas save more than $107 million annually in lower energy bills and prevent nearly two billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, which is equal to the emissions of more than 164,000 vehicles, the EPA said.

“EPA is glad to see so many organizations making the choice to go green with Energy Star,” said EPA Regional Administrator Richard Greene. “Energy Star buildings are America’s energy all-stars – they save more, use less and protect the environment.”

The Austin South Fairfield Inn
is one of Texas’ 356 Energy
Star buildings. (Photo courtesy
Marriott Hotels)

Energy Star is a government-backed program that helps businesses and consumers protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. To qualify for the Energy Star label, a building or manufacturing plant must score in the top 25 percent using EPA’s National Energy Performance Rating System.

Across the country, the number of commercial buildings and manufacturing plants to earn the Energy Star for superior energy efficiency is up by more than 25 percent in the past year, and the amount of carbon dioxide emissions reduced has reached an all-time high of more than 25 billion pounds.

Nearly 4,100 buildings and manufacturing plants nationwide have earned the EPA’s Energy Star through the end of 2007, with the addition of more than 1,400 in 2007 alone.

In total, the EPA says, these commercial buildings and manufacturing plants have saved nearly $1.5 billion annually in lower energy bills and prevented carbon dioxide emissions equal to the emissions associated with electricity use of more than 1.5 million American homes for a year, relative to typical buildings.

Energy use in commercial buildings and manufacturing plants accounts for nearly half of the total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and nearly 50 percent of energy consumption nationwide, according to government figures.

Commercial buildings that have earned the Energy Star use nearly 40 percent less energy than average buildings and emit 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, offering a significantly smaller carbon footprint.

EPA has worked with businesses and organizations for more than a decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through strategic energy management practices.

The complete list of Energy Star buildings in Texas is here [www.energystar.gov].

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WASHINGTON, DC, February 9, 2008 (ENS) – As of November 1, 2008, televisions that carry the Energy Star label will be up to 30 percent more efficient than conventional models and will save energy while they are on and when they are off.

The new standard is the result of a modification to the Energy Star specifications by the U.S. government. The Version 3.0 Energy Star TV products specification was finalized on February 4, 2008.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the new modifications are expected to prevent greenhouse gas emissions.

“Energy Star’s new specifications for televisions are turning the channel on energy guzzling sets – making them go the way of rabbit-ears and the black and white TV,” said EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.

High definition TVs are on display in
a store in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
(Photo by John Sims courtesy LSU)

Some manufacturers are in favor of the stricter standard. Jon Fairhurst of Sharp Laboratories of America wrote in a January 18 letter to Katharine Kaplan of the EPA Office of Air and Radiation, “We believe that this new specification will help improve television power efficiency across the industry. Such action reduces greenhouse gas emissions, helps the environment and lowers costs for consumers.”

But others have problems with the new standard, which they object is an “all-TVs-are-the-same’ approach” that does not distinguish among technology types.

Peter Fannon, Panasonic vice president for technology policy, government and regulation, wrote in a January 24 letter to Kaplan, “Our strongly preferred approach – as we and other commenters have recommended from the outset – would be to establish separate Energy Star classes by TV technology type.”

“We are keenly disappointed that this Version 3.0 document still fails to differentiate among display technologies or to reflect the fact that different display technologies have dissimilar and distinct performance and energy consumption characteristics. Frankly, we believe this remains the primary shortcoming of the Draft Final specification,” Fannon wrote.

“Consequently, and despite the consistent and near-universal use of separate product TV technology categories by manufacturers, retailers, consumer publications, and consumers themselves in their purchase determinations, the result of the ‘all-TVs-are-the-same’ approach in the Final Draft is a new program that promotes certain technologies at the expense of others,” Fannon wrote.

Fannon says the EPA’s approach gives undue weight to rear projection TV which is rapidly disappearing from the marketplace. “Unfortunately, we believe all these things could undercut, rather than propel, the important and substantial Energy Star brand,” he writes.

The winner of the Energy Star Partner of the Year Award for five consecutive years, Panasonic produces over 445 Energy Star labeled products, more than any other manufacturer.

Still, the EPA did not change its approach in response to Fannon’s comments.

The United States now has more than 275 million TVs in use; they consume over 50 billion kilowatt hours per year.

According to recent market research, North American shipments of new TVs will top 36 million units in 2008.

“These TVs will typically be larger, in use more hours a day, and offer more vibrant pictures and other great features than their predecessors. However, these enhancements can come with a hefty energy price tag,” Johnson said.

After the new specifications go into effect, if all TVs sold in the United States met the Energy Star requirements, the savings in energy costs would grow to about $1 billion annually and greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by the equivalent of about one million cars.

Energy Star labeling was introduced by EPA in 1992 as a voluntary, market-based partnership to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency.

Today, the Energy Star label can be found on more than 50 different kinds of products as well as new homes and buildings.

TVs first earned the Energy Star label in 1998 and ever since, TV manufacturers and EPA have worked together on efficiency improvements.

Products that have earned the Energy Star designation prevent greenhouse gas emissions by meeting strict energy-efficiency specifications set by the U.S. government.

In 2006 alone, Americans choosing to purchase Energy Star products saved about $14 billion on their energy bills while reducing greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those of 25 million vehicles, according to the EPA.

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It’s got lots of different names: phantom load; vampire power; idle current; wall wart; but all euphemisms for the way that devices use and waste electricity when they aren’t even turned on. That little red light on your TV, telling you it’s ready when you are? That’s one. Your cell phone charger? Yep. Even the microwave, DVD player and stereo are guilty, and it really adds up. Standby power (another name for it) consumes between 7 and 25 percent of a home’s energy while doing nothing but hogging outlets and flashing the time at you. The good news is that there are easy ways to avoid the phantom prowling around your outlets.

Devices like the Kill-A-Watt (available for sale here [www.p3international.com]) can tell you quickly and easily which of your gizmos use the most power, offering a quick ‘n easy diagnostic of where you can save the most power. Once you have it figured, we recommend putting the most offensive gadgets on a “smart” power strip like the Smart Strip Power Strip [www.smarthomeusa.com] or Wattstopper Plug Load Control [www.wattstopper.com] (pictured); both help stop the idle current drawn from your outlets when electronics aren’t in use, though they do it a bit differently (read more [www.treehugger.com] on how they work, if you want to learn more). Alternately, plug phantom-power-drawing devices into a power strip, and just unplug the power strip when you aren’t using them — this works great with things often used in combination, like a TV, DVD player & stereo.

When shopping for new devices, check out this online database [oahu.lbl.gov] of products rated by their standby energy use from the Federal Energy Management Program at the U.S. Department of Energy, and keep your eyes peeled for the Energy Star label; appliances with the certification will use less energy both when in use or just plugged in. Learn more about preventing idle current at our How to Green Your Electricity [www.treehugger.com] guide; for an audio/visual experience, check out the TreeHugger TV episode [www.treehugger.com] about the lurking vampire power in your home. Don’t be a victim!

Now that Friday is here and the weekend is nigh, it’s time for many of us to kick back, relax a little, and catch up on chores around the house. Should laundry be at the top (or bottom) of your list, here are TreeHugger’s tips for cleaning your clothing while keeping it green.

When it comes to clothing, 75% of the energy consumed during a garment’s life cycle is used in the laundering process, so making your laundry greener and more efficient really can make a difference. It all starts with the washing machine, and the best thing to do is look for the Energy Star label [www.treehugger.com], which indicates that they make efficient use of both electricity and water during the washing process. When it comes to detergent, liquids and powders [www.treehugger.com] can be good (especially when used with cold water [www.treehugger.com]), but some TreeHuggers think these laundry balls [www.treehugger.com] are better. And if you need to get things a little whiter, bleach gets a thumb down; we recommend the cleaning power of lemon [www.treehugger.com] instead.

Once your clothes are clean, they have to get dry, but we don’t recommend a conventional dryer — they suck an awful lot of energy. Line drying is TreeHugger’s favorite [www.treehugger.com] because it’s electricity-free, but not always the most practical thing for us all. If you don’t have the real estate for a line (or don’t want to leave your clothes out in the rain and snow in the winter), use a laundromat, like the world’s largest that’s powered by solar power [www.treehugger.com] or a portable spin dryer [www.treehugger.com] is the next best way to go; revolving at 3200 rpm to help dry your clothes in just two or three minutes; it won’t do the same job as a conventional tumble dryer (clothes come out a little damp) but would work great in tandem with a clothes line or drying rack.

Want to get a little crazy? Check out Sanyo’s Aqua [www.treehugger.com], that washes without water by converting air to ozone, or Samsung’s SilverCare [www.treehugger.com] washing machine that uses silver ions to wash your clothes. For a really futuristic take, check out the Airwash [www.treehugger.com], a waterless washing machine that removes stains from garments within a few minutes, without the use of detergents; though just a concept, we think it’s worth crossing our fingers that it’ll get produced. It might just make laundry worth waiting for.