$1.00 Per Month Buys Healthy Home Help

Earth Times

So you think $1.00 doesn’t buy much anymore? Think again. Broan-NuTone®, the industry leader in residential ventilation, offers a complete line of ENERGY STAR® qualified ventilation fans for a healthier home that brings new meaning to value.

For as little as $1.00 a year to operate, Broan-NuTone has packed its ENERGY STAR® qualified ventilation fans with more IAQ punch than other manufacturers. Whether it’s excess odors, indoor pollutants, mold prevention or improving the overall quality of indoor air, you can’t beat this value for a healthier home.

The ENERGY STAR lineup of Broan® and NuTone® ventilation fans includes some 35 different models from the Ultra Silent™ Series, recessed fan/lights, as well as heavy-duty models ideal for light commercial installations and offices. The Ultra Silent Series includes basic bath fans, fan/light/nightlight combinations, humidity sensing fans and humidity sensing/fan/light/nightlight combinations. ENERGY STAR fan-only models use less than 10 kilowatt hours per year.

“All of the ENERGY STAR qualified fans from Broan and NuTone are certified by the Home Ventilating Institute (HVI). The HVI label is a homeowner’s assurance that the certified air flow and sound ratings for a certain ventilation product are the results of testing by an independent laboratory,” says Patrick Nielsen, marketing manager, ventilation fans, Broan-NuTone. “The ENERGY STAR program uses HVI certification as its third-party validation when evaluating whether or not a fan receives ENERGY STAR certified status. Put simply: the HVI certification and ENERGY STAR qualified distinctions help guide homeowners to purchase the most energy efficient fans on the market.”

According to ENERGY STAR officials, earning the ENERGY STAR means fans meet the strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Energy (DOE). ENERGY STAR qualified ventilation fans that include light use 70 percent less energy on average than standard models; these fans provide better efficiency and comfort with less noise and use high performance motors that work better and last longer than motors used in conventional models. In addition, they feature high performance motors and improved blade design, providing better performance and longer life.

“Because Broan-NuTone is the leading U.S. manufacturer of residential ventilation, and has been manufacturing fans longer than any other company in the U.S., we have played a key role in helping the industry set the standard for HVI over the years,” says Nielsen. “When a homeowner puts one of our ENERGY STAR qualified fans into their home, they can rest assured that it’s the most energy-efficient fan currently available.”

And all of this for only $1.00 a year to operate.

In addition, all Broan-NuTone ENERGY STAR qualified ventilation fans are designed, engineered, manufactured and customer supported in the U.S. which also means the carbon footprint required to make that fan available to homeowners is less than many of its competitors coming from overseas.

“When you purchase an ENERGY STAR qualified fan from us, you’re not only getting the best IAQ value on the market, but you’re also helping to keep jobs in the U.S. And not just manufacturing jobs; technical and customer support jobs as well. When you call us, you’re speaking to a Broan-NuTone employee on American soil, not overseas. This ‘made in America’ commitment, combined with the incredible IAQ value, makes the installation of a Broan-NuTone ENERGY STAR fan a win-win,” says Nielsen.

For a complete list of all Broan-NuTone ENERGY STAR fans, visit www.Broan.com or www.NuTone.com. The ENERGY STAR models are available in most major retailers nationwide.

Broan® is a registered trademark and Ultra Silent™ is a trademark of Broan-NuTone LLC, North America's leading manufacturer and distributor of residential ventilation products including range hoods, ventilation fans, heater/fan/light combination units, Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) Fresh Air Systems, built-in heaters, whole-house fans, attic ventilators and trash compactors. NuTone® is a registered trademark of NuTone Inc., a subsidiary of Broan-NuTone and North America's leading manufacturer and distributor of residential built-in convenience products including door chimes, central vacuum systems, paddle fans, stereo intercom systems, home theater speakers, medicine cabinets, ironing centers and ventilation fans. Broan-NuTone is proud to be an ENERGY STAR® partner.

Not All Energy Star Appliances Equally Efficient

NY Times

The Energy Department has concluded in an internal audit that it does not properly track whether manufacturers that give their appliances an Energy Star label have met the required specifications for energy efficiency

Some manufacturers could therefore be putting the stickers on unqualified products such as kitchen appliances, according to the audit, by the Energy Department’s inspector general, Gregory H. Friedman.

The Energy Star program, jointly managed by the Energy Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, has benefited from a renewed emphasis by the Obama administration, as a mechanism for reducing the waste of energy and curbing resulting greenhouse gas emissions. Under the federal stimulus bill, $300 million will go to rebates for consumers who buy Energy Star products.

Some consumers choose energy-efficient appliances for the same reason they might choose a car with good fuel economy: to save money or reduce the environmental impact.

Teams from the Energy Department and the E.P.A. oversee different categories of products. Last December, the environmental agency’s inspector general said the Energy Star ratings for products it oversees, like computers and television sets, were “not accurate or verifiable” because of weak oversight by the agency.

The Energy Department vowed then to scrutinize its performance in evaluating the products that it oversees, like windows, dishwashers, washing machines and refrigerators.

The new audit, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times, indicates that the Energy Department has also fallen far short. Those shortcomings “could reduce consumer confidence in the integrity of the Energy Star label,” according to the department’s inspector general. The audit is to be submitted to Energy Secretary Steven Chu this week. While the Energy Department requires manufacturers of windows and L.E.D. and fluorescent lighting to have independent laboratories evaluate their products, the report said, companies that make refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, water heaters and room air-conditioners, which consume far more energy, can certify those appliances themselves.

One refrigerator manufacturer tipped off the Energy Department that some models from a competitor that carried the Energy Star label did not meet the criteria, the audit said. That problem was also described by Consumer Reports magazine in October 2008 about tests it had conducted. In a settlement last year, the manufacturer, LG of South Korea, agreed to modify circuit boards in the machines already sold, to reduce their consumption and to compensate consumers for the extra power consumed.

The report also noted that while the government said in 2007 that it would conduct “retail assessments” to ensure that all the products carrying the Energy Star logo deserved them, it is still not doing so for windows, doors, skylights, water heaters and solid-state lighting. And the department is not following through to ensure that when inappropriately labeled products are identified, the labels are actually taken off, the audit said.

In one category, compact fluorescent lights, the government has certified nearly all existing products, the audit said. “When 90 percent of the products qualify, the consumer cannot easily judge the relative efficiencies of C.F.L. products,” the report said.

Jen Stutsman, an Energy Department spokeswoman, cited the recent agreement with the E.P.A., and said, “The Obama administration is strongly committed to ensuring that all Energy Star products provide American consumers with significant energy and cost savings, and has moved forward with steps to streamline and enhance the program.”

An outside expert, Lane Burt, the manager of building energy policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said some of the criticisms were justified.

“It’s been a tremendously successful program,” Mr. Burt said. “It’s grown by leaps and bounds, and any time you have that kind of growth, you’re going to have growing pains.”

Nonetheless, he said, “it’s crucial to make sure consumers are actually saving money and energy when buying an Energy Star appliance.” On Sept. 30, the Energy Department and the E.P.A. signed a memorandum of understanding that seeks to address some of the shortcomings detailed in the report.

Other Energy Star Appliances:

• Blenders
• Slow Cookers
• Indoor Grills

Mr. Burt said the memorandum committed both agencies to having all of their products evaluated by certified independent laboratories, and to expand the Energy Star program to cover products that were not in common use when it began in 1996. No target date was set.

The memorandum called for a “super star” program within Energy Star to identify the top-performing 5 percent of products, ranked by efficiency, he said.