Markets Wired

Get energy-smart this Earth Day with the Federal Trade Commission’s new publication, EnergyGuidance: Appliance Shopping With the EnergyGuide Label. The publication explains how consumers shopping for appliances can use the yellow EnergyGuide labels – recently revised so they are easier to use – to help them compare the energy use of different models. It even includes a sample label consumers can peruse before they shop.

The most prominent feature on EnergyGuide labels for most appliances is an estimate of what it costs to run that model for one year. But each label also includes an estimate of how much actual energy the model uses, and the highest and lowest operating costs for competing models. This helps consumers identify more-efficient models and gain greater control over their energy use. Look for EnergyGuide labels on clothes washers, refrigerators, freezers, water heaters, dishwashers, window air conditioners, central air conditioners, furnaces, boilers, heat pumps, and pool heaters.

Copies of EnergyGuidance: Appliance Shopping With the EnergyGuide Label can be found at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/homes/rea14.shtm.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, click http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.shtm or call 1-877-382-4357. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,600 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. For free information on a variety of consumer topics, click http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm.