GreenPepper Blog

ENERGY STAR Rating Encourages Mediocrity

By Mari Abe, GreenPepper

As seen in a recent Washington Post article, there is a wide variance in the performance of ENERGY STAR rated products. Simply put, the rating works on a pass-fail system. Because the rating only has one set of standards and one label to hand out, high-performance products are jumbled with mid to low performance products. According to the article, government data shows that in 2008, 79 percent of all the televisions sold in the United States carried the ENERGY STAR logo. This leaves the average consumer at a gross disadvantage when shopping for appliances, TV’s and more. How can the very best products shine when you can’t distinguish it from an average one?

While I applaud the Department of Energy (DOE) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for doing its part to ensure that all products are energy-efficient, perhaps it can take a cue from the MBDC Cradle-to-Cradle rating where products are rated as Platinum, Gold or Silver based on a certain set of criteria such as materials chemistry, efficient use of water, recyclability at end of life and more. Contrary to ENERGY STAR, Cradle-to-Cradle is set-up like an A-F grading scale. This allows consumers to make informed and educated purchasing decisions. Furthermore, it lets companies like office furniture manufacturer Steelcase*, shoot for the best certification possible without feeling the pressure cheat or take shortcuts to achieve one. Because while an entry-level task chair may only qualify for Silver, their high-end ergonomic chair is considered Platinum.

In the simple ENERGY STAR rating system, companies like Whirlpool*, who have always gone above and beyond to bring energy-efficient products to the end consumer loses out to newer manufacturers who barely make the cut. More importantly, it hinders innovation and slows down the rate at which better energy-efficient products are brought to market. After all, we all know that a college student taking a class pass-fail, rarely shows up for class.

*For full disclosure, these companies are Peppercom clients.

Changing the World in 60 Minutes

By Heather Rosenthal, GreenPepper

With the countdown to Earth Day 2010 officially on, the World Wildlife Fund is bringing the energy crisis front and center. On Saturday, March 27, 2010, at 8:30 p.m., the WWF is asking residents of cities around the world to participate in Earth Hour. From New Zealand to Hawaii, lights will be turned off for one hour in homes, office buildings, iconic landmarks, government buildings and retail establishments across the world in an effort to bring energy conservation to the forefront.

We do hope that everyone at Peppercom and elsewhere will take just one hour of your day to take part in shutting off your lights for the planet. In addition to the 656 cities, towns and municipalities in 80 countries across every continent, there are select monuments and parks turning off the lights as well, like the Empire State Building in New York (we can’t wait to see that one)!

As we are all responsible for our future, sign up for Earth Hour and try to recruit as many people as possible.

For Information on city and state involvement, please visit here.

Crazy Winter Should Be Cold Comfort for Climate Change Deniers

By Ann Barlow, GreenPepper

It’s been interesting to see the arguments that have flared up over the past few weeks as the U.S. has been pounded by one storm after another.  I heard that as of last weekend, 49 of 50 states had snow (Hawaii had apparently managed to avoid the white stuff even at its highest elevations).  Given this, it’s not completely surprising that some people think we couldn’t really be experiencing global warming.  If snow is falling as far south as Florida, the thinking goes, how could that equate to the planet heating up an alarming rates?

But scientists and others a lot more knowledgeable than I have said not to take comfort from this notion.  The fact is, as the planet warms up, ocean currents can change dramatically, causing an accompanying shift in weather patterns.  At the same time, waters that have been warmed by the earth’s atmosphere evaporate more quickly, producing more frequent and heavier precipitation.  Climatologists say that such patterns are likely to continue, so that we can look forward to more extreme weather conditions – from blizzards to droughts.

We have so much to think about in the here and now – jobs, housing, healthcare, wars – that it would be nice to think that perhaps this problem isn’t as bad as it has seemed.  But that would be the equivalent of fixing the windows and the roof while the foundation is cracking.

I hope my friends, family and colleagues who are going through such a tough winter can look forward to a nice, temperate spring. But don’t count on it… And all of us need to maintain the political will to make changes now. Otherwise, we’re going to need a few more snow plows, umbrellas, sand bags and irrigation systems.

Add Coal to Clean Energy Alternatives

By Beth Starkin, PepperDigital

As a nation, we’ve become fixated on clean energy, which is a good thing. But for most of us, that means biofuels, solar, wind and maybe a little hydro. In a departure from this, President Obama announced yesterday that coal will be a significant piece of the clean energy puzzle. While it’s true that coal will never be truly clean, in making this announcement, the President has brought attention to an important subject – that there is no silver bullet solution to our quest for clean energy, and finding ways to improve what we’ve already got will be just as important as finding alternatives.

All too often, our society focuses on the new “bright shiny object” of the day, fixating on the promising, yet unproven, new technology that offers the hope of clean, American-made power. And in this fervor, the tried-and-true, but boring technology gets all but ignored. The problem is that with new technology comes roadblocks and problems, and this has created a view that clean energy is decades away from being a fully viable, when the reality is that clean, American-sourced options are here today.

Adding fuel to the fire is that many of the companies behind the advances in cleaning up dirty technology won’t talk about it, because they are afraid of how what they are doing will be perceived among environmentalists. But if we’re going to solve our energy problems now, and not 10 years from now, they are going to have to take a page from Obama’s book, and start talking about how these technologies play in the clean energy mix and why they make sense for us to use today. The planet will benefit, and so will their business.