On Apr 11, 1:24*pm, "cshenk" wrote:
"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote

The methods may not be "real life" but as long as they test all brands the
same way, it is a way of noting that Brand A is half the cost to operate
compared to Brand B.

Correct.

I have to agree with Richard on this one. There is no way anyone can
say that, because the EPA test standards as Richard provided, do not
test the refrigerators anywhere near to how they are actually used.
Rkichard noted that one big and obvious issue is the refrigerators are
tested with THE DOORS CLOSED AND NEVER OPENED.

I think we can all agree that opening the doors is a big factor in how
much energy is going to be used. So, per your example, let's say
model A according to the EPA test uses $200 a year to operate and unit
B uses $100. But that's without opening the doors. Now we don't
know exactly how opening and closing the doors is going to affect both
refrigerators. It could very well be that model A now uses $275 to
operate, while unit B uses $150. So, model A is actually only a
factor of 1.8 better.

And I think this only gets worse when you're trying to figure out the
virtues of one with a sticker that says it uses $150 vs another one
that says $175. I would think the unknown effects of ice makers,
opening and closing the doors, having it actually loaded with food,
etc, could skew that quite a bit. In other words, it seems a bit of
stretch to think that because of this labeling, the unit with the
alleged $150 energy cost is worth much more than the unit with the
$175 cost.

Ask yourself this. If you were trying to determing how much energy a
refrigerator actually uses, would you test it with the doors kept
closed during the test, no food inside, and no ice maker? And why
exactly does the govt test call for them to be tested this way?
These tests were not arbitrarily made by the govt, but were done in
collaboration with the industries involved. There may not be some
ulterior motive involved, but it is a bit suspicious as to how they
don't test them anywhere near to how they are used.




I needed a new window AC this past summer. *In our state, there is no
sales tax on Energy Star models so I set out to find one. Found them I
did. *They were about $300 more than the non-compliant. *Guess what I
bought for $199?

Grin, I had to get 2 windows and a patio door replaced due to rental damage
and now just found another big window that has to go. *I went energy star.