Energy Efficiency Part 8(or So)

Wall Street Journal had an interesting article last week about EnergyStar appliances. They wrote a slightly cynical view about the expense of energy efficient appliances. In fact their one example was the first generation Maytag Neptune, which had mold problems. (Moldtag?)...Anyway that was almost 10 years ago

So lets flip through the Sunday Globe. There is an appliance chain offering a $100 gift card with any top loading machine. Not a bad deal, after all it is a super capacity machine for $299 after the card.

In fact, it is an awful deal, even if they sold it for nothing. The average consumer will save $150-250 per year with a front loading washer. Said consumer will also enjoy greater capacity up to 62%(less trips to the basement) and have a product that is gentler on the clothes(no agitator)

Here is the impact to the environment if everyone switched to a Whirlpool Duet, Maytag Epic, Bosch Nexxt or a Miele....Read this:

Enough water to:

Provide lifetime drinking for 67 million people
Fill all the water needs for California, New York and Texas for 1 year
Fill The Empire State 3,300 times(that's useful)

Energy Saved:

Prevent 45 Billion pounds of Carbon Dioxide from being released
Equal to what a power plant generates in 8 years

Perhaps, we should look at this as an annuity: Would you spend $200-500 in order to receive $200 per year for 15-20 years......Plenty of money for gift cards