Is The Energy Star Program Easily Fooled?

Is the Energy Star product that you recently purchased really beneficial to the environment? A report has surfaced showing that it’s really not too hard to pull the wool over the folks behind the certification program, and obtain an Energy Star approval. Investigators with the Government Accountability Office (GAO) actually managed to obtain Energy Star approval for 15 of the 20 fictitious products that they submitted for certification with fake energy-savings claims, while of the 20, two were rejected, and three did not get a response. Amongst the phony products that received certification included a room air cleaner that shows an electric space heater with a feather duster and strips of fly paper attached to it. To further compound the issue, two of the certified products actually received purchase requests by real companies, as four bogus firms, developed for the purpose of the investigation, were listed as Energy List partners. Do you generally pay attention to the Energy Star certification when making purchase decisions?