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 · 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…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Televisions
Certified TVs in WattCost's dataset span 18.36 to 631.05 kWh a year — a 34x range across just 172 models — and screen size only explains part of it. What ENERGY STAR actually certifies on a TV A…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Freezers
ENERGY STAR's own figures put a certified chest freezer at about 215 kWh and $30 a year to run, versus about 395 kWh and $60 a year for a certified upright — nearly double, for the same certification…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Clothes Washers
A certified front-load washer uses about 50% less energy and water than a top-load agitator model, and still about 25% less than a modern top-load impeller machine — the washer type on the spec sheet…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Dishwashers
A certified dishwasher's electricity use clusters hard around 239–240 kWh a year — out of 677 models in WattCost's dataset, the vast majority sit within a single kWh of the top of that range, with…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Air Conditioners
A portable air conditioner is the least efficient way to buy cooling. If a window unit physically fits the space, its certified running cost is almost always lower for the same size room — and the…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Clothes Dryers
Run the median ENERGY STAR certified electric clothes dryer in North Dakota and it costs about $74.96 a year. Run the identical machine in Hawaii and it costs about $282.98 — a 3.8x difference driven…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Water Heaters
Every electric water heater that carries ENERGY STAR certification today is a heat pump model — and ENERGY STAR estimates that switching to one from a standard electric resistance tank cuts…
· Sharon Ben-Moshe · Refrigerators
The most efficient ENERGY STAR certified refrigerator on the market uses 42 kWh a year; the least efficient certified model uses 805 kWh — a 19-fold gap between two products that carry the exact same…
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