Blog
Longer-form writing built on the same data as the rest of the site — buying guides, efficiency deep-dives, and notes on what changes in the datasets.
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Refrigerators
A refrigerator made before 2001 uses roughly 40% more energy than a new ENERGY STAR certified model, and one made before 1993 uses roughly double — and unlike most appliances, a refrigerator never…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Energy Basics
ENERGY STAR's "Most Efficient" refrigerators average 349 kWh a year — slightly more than the 345 kWh category-wide median — which sounds like a contradiction until you know what the badge actually…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Water Heaters
The 120-volt heat pump water heater — marketed as the easy retrofit that skips an electrical panel upgrade — actually averages 1,204 kWh a year in certified data, more than the standard 240-volt…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Air Conditioners
A certified 5,000 BTU room air conditioner averages 274 kWh a year; a 24,000 BTU unit averages 1,349 — the size you actually need, not the brand you pick, is what mostly decides the bill. How to…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Refrigerators
Certified side-by-side refrigerators average 638 kWh a year; certified freezerless models average 286 — more than double, before you even compare individual brands. The four configurations, by the…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Energy Basics
The median certified electric water heater costs $203.74 a year to run; the median certified computer monitor costs $8.49 — a 24x gap between the most and least expensive appliance category WattCost…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Energy Basics
Space heaters, ceiling fans, and pool pumps never show up in WattCost's certified model pages — not because we're missing data, but because ENERGY STAR certifies each of them differently, and one of…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Dehumidifiers
Dehumidifiers are rated by pints of water removed per day, not by room size directly — and ENERGY STAR's own sizing table says it's better to oversize than undersize, which cuts directly against the…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Air Purifiers
Running a certified air purifier around the clock costs a median of $27.87 a year at the US average electricity rate — cheap enough that sizing it correctly for the room matters more than worrying…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Computer Monitors
A certified computer monitor costs about $8.49 a year to run at the US average electricity rate — so little that even a three-monitor desk setup, run full-time on workdays, costs less than most…
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