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How to Reduce Pollution From Appliances

(adapted from The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices by Michael Brower and Warren Leon, 1999)

The key source of environmental harm from household appliances is electricity use. Although it is helpful to train yourself to use your appliances as sparingly as possible, the easiest way top make a really big difference is to buy the most efficient types to begin with. We can illustrate this point well by looking at refrigerators and freezers.

Refrigerators and Freezers

Refrigerators and freezers account for about a quarter of electricity use in the home, on average. A new refrigerator or freezer is a big investment, but you might want to consider getting a new one. New models are much more efficient than older ones, especially if your old refrigerator no longer has tight seals and otherwise performs worse than when you bought it. The average refrigerator today uses only a third as much electricity as a 25-year old one of the same size and with the same features. You may be able to save fifty dollars or more annually on your electric bills by buying a highly efficient replacement refrigerator. And you will save a lot of coal and natural gas from being burned to produce electricity.

If it turns out to make sense to buy a new refrigerator, keep in mind that it is usually a bad idea to keep the old one around for extra food storage. If you really need more storage space, it is more efficient to have one big refrigerator than two smaller ones. On the other hand, you shouldn't purchase a larger refrigerator than you really need, since the bigger it is, the more electricity it will use. Like houses, refrigerators have been getting bigger even while families have been getting smaller.

Lastly, pay close attention to the energy labels that appear on all new refrigerators and freezers. Then compare that model's electricity consumption (in kilowatt-hours per year) with that of other models of a similar size. Let's assume, for example, that you want to purchase an 18- or 19-cubic-foot-refrigerator. By buying the most efficient model, you will use about 40% less electricity than if you buy the least efficient model, thereby causing 40% less of the air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions associated with electricity generation. That is a tremendous difference in pollution, just by making a sound buying decision.

Other Home Appliances

When you think about other home appliances, such as stoves, clothes dryers, and air conditioners, you can apply the same suggestions as for refrigerators, consider whether it's time to replace your existing appliance, don't buy a larger one that you need, and read energy labels carefully to find the most efficient model for your needs.

Clothes washers are a partial exception to these rules: although some new front-loading, energy-efficient, water-saving washers use just one-third of the water of traditional top-loaders, the most effective way to reduce energy use from clothes washing is to switch from hot water to cold water washes. All but 100 percent of the energy used for washing clothes goes to heating the water.

Look for the Energy Star

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Department of Energy have made it easy to find energy-efficient household appliances, home electronics, and office equipment with its Energy Star label. Those refrigerators, clothes washers, refrigerators, dishwashers, room air conditioners, and computers that are significantly more energy efficient that minimum government standards receive an Energy Star to display in the dealer's showroom. By looking for the Energy Star label, you can quickly identify the most efficient appliances.

You can also go to the EPA's website (www.energystar.gov) to find a list of Energy Star qualified products and to locate a store near you that carries them.

Unfortunately, the Energy Star program does not currently cover all types of appliances. For example, clothes dryers, ovens, and water heaters are not include.

Also, keep in mind, that even among Energy Star appliances there are differences and you should try to look for the best one. So try to use the Energy Star as the start, not the end, of your comparison shopping for an appliance.

Computers

For information on reducing energy use from computers, visit the websits of the Tufts Climate Initiative.