TWO MILES OLD, ONE POUND LONG

Energy is the capacity for doing work; power is the rate at which work is done. The energy used by an appliance therefore depends not only on its power consumption, but also on the time for which it is operating; the total energy is the product of the two.

The proposed law which will force manufacturers to indicate the power consumption in order to save energy is sure to confuse consumers, for the appliance which consumes the most energy is not necessarily (or usually) the one with the highest power rating. The biggest power consumers in a household are usually the electric range, oven and clothes dryer, but they are not usually the biggest energy consumers, since they operate for relatively short periods. The energy consumption depends on the operating time, and this has been studied by the Electric Energy Association for typical American households.

The electric appliance consuming most energy is the freezer, which (15 cubic ft., frostless) consumes 1,761 kWh annually in the typical household, followed by the refrigerator (frostless, 12 cu.ft.) with 1217 kWh per year. Yet such a freezer has a power rating of only 440 W. and the refrigerator 321 W. as compared with 8,200 W for an electric range and 4,800 W for the typical clothes dryer. A freezer consumes annually twice as much energy as a dryer, and 50% more than an air conditioner.

Only the following common appliances exceed energy consumptions of 1,000 kWh/year: freezer, air conditioner, refrigerator, range, oven (in that order). An electric toothbrush, the symbol of the wasteful society, consumes 0.5 kWh/year.

The proposed law calls the displayed power ratings "efficiency labels," which is more confusion, because efficiency is exactly what the labels do not state. The same power consumption with half the efficiency will result in twice the energy consumption, because it takes twice as long to get the job done.