What Is This Yellow Tag?

Hi Everyone!

This week I wanted to talk about something I'm sure most of us have seen out and about at many stores and on many products. The bright yellow EnergyGuide Label. 

I know I easily recognized it but I could not say I had ever paid particularly close attention to the message it was conveying or thought very much about what it should mean to me...

The simple truth is saving money and energy is often not some giant paycheck or rebate. Of course there are those opportunities, but our best option for saving some bucks is often found by compounding our savings buying a new appliance and using it efficiently, or even better maybe finding an more efficient way to use the appliances and materials we already own.  

I have already talked about rebates available through many utility companies for purchasing more efficient new appliances...if you missed it click here

Those same appliances we talked about often had EnergyGuide Labels to help us, the consumer, have an idea of how much this appliance will cost to operate annually.  

It is important to note the EnergyGuide label is not a certification and is focused on cost of operation. How many dollars is this beast going to cost me to operate??? A handy tool if you are trying to decide between two appliances or just wanted to compare for curiosity sake.

Here is a list of appliances you should find an EnergyGuide label for: 

clothes washers

dishwashers

refrigerators

freezers

water heaters

air conditioners, central and window

furnaces and boilers

heat pumps 

pool heaters

televisions

additional info on light bulbs

EnergyGuide labeling is required by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and I can honestly say until I did this post I had no idea.  

If you are interested in this type of thing you can click here for a link to the FTC website. I know you are all dying to spend hours scrolling through the Federal Trade Commission website!

I personally find this type of thing very interesting because who out there really has any idea how much they are spending annually to run their dishwasher, or dryer? On that note they may really have us on this one because I'm probably not going to check their work..BUT...moving along. 
This is good information to have in my opinion. 

If anyone is like me when things are right in front of your face you are more likely to pay attention to them. Ask anyone who knows me, I'm pretty cheap. So far this year I have only turned on the central air at my house once, I don't want a reward for this...just a lower bill and if it helps the environment that is also a bonus. 

Once again I believe in doing what you can. There is no judgement coming from me if your air is on and you do not care about an EnergyGuide label. To me this stuff is just information, if it helps you I'm happy and if not I will probably still be happy. 

Next time you go out and purchase an appliance or are shopping around check it out, maybe it will hep you make a decision. If you are purchasing a home and wonder about the appliances that are already installed you can check the manufacturers website or even look at retailers that may still carry the appliance. 

I hope everyone is doing well. 

Until the next time....