EnergyStar reality check

A few months ago, I needed to buy a new washing machine. I had a maintenance man look at my old one and he determined that the cost of the part was at least half the cost of a new machine, so I went shopping. I wanted to buy an EnergyStar washing machine, but in the end, decided against it because of the $200 price difference, or in other words, a 50% increase over the machine I purchased.

But maybe I shouldn't feel so guilty. According to a report in The New York Times, the program is fraught with problems. An investigation by the Government Accountability Office found it easy to get approval for an array of fake -- sometimes absurd -- products, such as a gas-powered alarm clock the size of an electric generator. The report suggests that the EnergyStar program is ripe for fraud, partly because it appears there are programs that are reviewed by an automated system. The EPA claims that all final approvals are reviewed by a human, but still vowed to take measures to strengthen the program.

Do you think the EnergyStar sticker is worth the price tag? In general, I suspect that most of the products do qualify, but past research suggests that many products without the sticker are equally as efficient, so the difference in price may be hard to justify. Perhaps the EPA needs to raise the bar for what should be classified as energy efficient.