Comparing energy and water consumption of appliances - keep or replace?

Energy consumption is increasingly an important performance variable when comparing appliances. You would think that appliance manufacturers and retailers would be making this information readily accessible but it just isn't happening. The current retail climate seems to not be getting the green message, especially when trying to help, and not hinder buying decisions. Trying to find this information and factoring this into comparison shopping, energy consumption rarely makes it on the spec sheets or is somewhere buried on the manufacturer web site. Using government information sites like at Natural Resources Canada Energy Star databases on line is also not an easy task, as things like model numbers that are exclusive to a specific retailer make it very difficult.

We are still suffering from featuritis and tend to think that energy consumption is something pretty much equivalent between brands. Nothing could be further from the truth. Looking at refrigerators in the 24-26 cu ft. size there is an incredible range of energy consumption values which range from 472 kWh to 732 kWh per year. At current Hydro Québec rates this only means about a $3 per month difference, but if you consider we are running two older 18 cu ft refrigerators for a combined total of a whopping 1,800 kWh per year we would be saving between $10-15 per month by switching to one larger fridge. Payback would be in 10 years on an $1800 refrigerator (like this Samsung RF265AARS my wife fell in love with)

Because our water is metered in Brossard, we would experience an even bigger savings by getting rid of our ancient KitchenAid washing machine and not-so-ancient Kenmore dishwasher for more energy and water efficient designs as offered by LG, Bosch, Samsung or Miele.

For example our washer uses about 80,000 litres per year and about 500 kWh, vs. an LG with a larger capacity (94 litre) tub which is rated at 18,500 L/yr and 150 kWh. If you consider the cost to heat 60,000 litres and the metered rate (approx. $0.001 per litre) we would easily save $10 per month. This is still 10 years ROI for a $1200 washing machine if energy and water costs remain stable (not likely).

A similar story but much less savings for the dishwasher: about a 7,500 litres per year and 300 kWh difference is only $3-5 per month savings in water and electricity.

(We would get a much better ROI on water costs by replacing our 3 toilets with low-flows ... with payback in 5 years)

Of course there is very little energy efficiency improvement for converting electricity to heat, as in the range or clothes dryer. Basically the only way to save money is shorter or fewer cycles and explains why there are no Energy Star ratings for these appliances.