Energy Star Certifies Gas Powered Alarm Clock

America's obsession over making products that save energy and are environmentally conscious might be causing problems. Certain products that claim to be environmentally friendly might actually not be as friendly as they thought they were. This is because there are some issues with the way that the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department have been issuing the Energy Star label. The recent submission of the Gasoline-Powered Alarm Clock brought the issues to light.

We probably should first start by refreshing your memory on what the Energy Star is. This is a label that you find on products that have been shown to be environmentally friendly. Products that have this label are given it to show the consumer that the product passes the inspections of the federal government. Whenever we see this label we instantly get the feeling that it is energy efficient and will save us money. This might not be the case all the time.

A group of congressional auditors decided that it was time to audit the Energy Star program. They created four companies that submitted a number of actual products that incorporated crazy concepts. Obviously, the Gasoline-Powered Alarm Clock was one of them. The paperwork for the product boasted that it was 20-percent more efficient than competing models. However, these documents were completely fictional & fraudulent. What did Energy Star do? They approved the product.

The reason behind this is that both the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department have a system in place that automatically approves products that incorporate gasoline-type concepts. You can see how this could become a problem if a company caught wind because they could submit products with fictional claims and have them passed due to the agency's own errors.

Gasoline-Powered Alarm Clock is a energy conscious product that is indeed energy efficient. However, it should of never received the Energy Star label because it did not have proof of it's claims. Hopefully this audit is a wake up call for us consumers to not always fall in love with the Energy Star label. We should investigate all products before we purchase them to ensure that the company can back up the claims being made. Hopefully the issues discovered will be fixed sooner rather than later.

Sources:

(1) Engadget, http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/26/energystar-program-certifies-gasoline-powered-alarm-other-ima/, 2010