HELP CONSUMERS CHOOSE AND USE APPLIANCES WISELY

Even though major appliances along with lighting account for only 15 percent of the average home's energy consumption in a year, the energy needed per appliance has been rising steadily. More households are buying major appliances, especially those that are not already a fixture in every home, such as clothes dryers, dishwashers and air conditioners. Replacement is a large market as well, especially for stoves and refrigerators. It is important, therefore that the voluntary steps taken already toward energy efficiency labeling on appliances be made mandatory. Consumers should also be instructed how to interpret the information when they shop.

The following recommendations would help consumers buy appliances more intelligently.

• A mandatory energy efficiency labeling program, now under consideration by Congress, should be passed and implemented in a way that consumers understand. The labeling program should provide for attaching a chart that defines clearly what the energy efficiency rating of each appliance is, for easy comparison at the time of purchase.

• Federal support of research to improve the energy efficiency of appliances and establish performance ratings should be underwritten as necessary to administer the following suggested program.

• The Federal Energy Administration should have the responsibility of using technical research results to discover and refer for prosecution manufacturers of major appliances that make products found to be below established limits of performance.

HELP HOUSEHOLDS IMPROVE THE ENERGY EFFICIENCY OF THEIR TRANSPORTATION

Almost half of the energy that households use directly is not consumed at home but in their cars. The steady rise in car weight, cost, and use, coupled with a declining trend in public transit use and increasing fares and deficits, spell crisis. The transportation crisis has many faces. One involves inexorably rising energy use and air pollution. Another involves falling public transit ridership, so that many systems still in use may soon wither away.

Just as in the case of housing, most people, and especially most of the work force, find they have no choice. A car is expensive, but public transportation does not take people where they have to go quickly enough or when they need to go, for the right price. The following recommendations are designed to