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.

What's the Deal with Toasters??

Our Cuisinart CPT-180 Toaster is now in for repairs. It only toasts on one side, has become difficult to set (it either burns or makes warm bread) and some of the buttons either don't work or are stuck on. At least Cuisinart offers a 3 year warranty and we can get it serviced locally at Centre du Rasoir. The toaster is barely over 1 year old.

We bought this toaster for its rated performance, its 3 year warranty and its compact size. It was one of the few 4 slot toasters that was rated at 1500 watts. It made excellent toast at first but after about 6 months things started to go wrong with it.

What gets me is that regardless of price, toasters seem to last only about a year. We've been through countless toasters that just get slow, eventually make bad toast, or break, or even catch on fire!

There is no reason for this kind of built-in obsolescence, especially when a toaster is double or triple the price. We just want a toaster that can make consistently good toast for what it should last for (at least 10 years). When I think of my parent's Sunbeam automatic that was bought before I was born and died when I was about 18 or 19 years old, and made consistently perfect toast every single day until it bit the dust.

At least Centre du Rasoir's service is good: If the technician can't fix it, they replace it with a new one.

iPods are not durable

Two years ago I bought a refurbished 40 GB 4th generation iPod directly from Apple. At the time it was an excellent deal and it came with both Firewire and USB cables, a dock and a power adapter for $259. Even though it was older technology, my daughter's experience with her 5G iPod Video made me think twice, and I opted for what I thought would have been a more durable unit.

Well, it didn't make it to its 2nd birthday. Shortly after my return from Italy, I got the dreaded exclamation mark folder and while I could reset and restore the unit, it would start to click and whir like a skipping record and the exclamation mark folder re-appeared. Considering I am not a heavy user, I was pretty disappointed. And of course Apple priced the repair well above replacement cost.

Since I bought it on my Visa card, I availed myself of the purchase protection insurance, made the claim, and yesterday I received my cheque from the bank.

I replaced it with an 80 GB iPod Classic with a colour screen and the new interface (cover flow is quite nice and having my iPhoto library was a bonus) for $20 less than I paid two years ago for the old one. The new unit is less than half the thickness of the old, and gives the impression of being quite solid with its all-metal case.

It will be interesting to see how long this one lasts. Hopefully it will crap out before two years, and purchase protection insurance will replace it with an 64 GB solid state drive iPod touch...