You do know that energy star certification is voluntary, right?

Nobody forces manufacturers to get certified, they do it because the market prefers it.

Energy star does not force manufacturers to be certified. I can walk into my local appliance store and walk out with a whole kitchen full of uncertified products if I wanted too.

It’s “voluntary” except for all of the different ways it’s been written into regulations, from federal procurement all the way down to local government.

But if the market prefers it, great! Do it without the need for a government bureaucracy! Organizations like Underwriters Laboratories don’t need an arm of the US government to exist.

If the market prefers dishwashers that are slower then you don’t need the government creating that certification.

How do you propose to solve the information asymmetry where customers in an appliance store can't tell how much it will cost them on their energy bill to operate each appliance?

I think looking at how much it costs to operate an appliance without looking at how well the appliance does its job is relying on incomplete information. I can make a dishwasher that costs 0 to operate but doesn’t clean the dishes. Therefore I think the whole system is flawed and useless and shouldn’t exist.

Do you also think we should do away with mandatory fuel economy disclosures for the same reason?

Information on performance is usually provided by third parties like Consumer Reports, Car and Driver, and other review services. Government provides and mandates quantitative statistics as a public service; private parties take care of the qualitative and subjective analyses (i.e., opinions).

No, information about power of cars is widely available in the specs sheet of the car (torque, etc). Therefore there is the chance of a fair and useful comparison.

That suggests you would support even more mandatory disclosures from appliance manufacturers, as opposed to reducing information by killing off the Energy Star program.

Exactly. Either full information or none. What exists now is useless. The current system can give good scores to dishwashers that force you to rinse all dishes before you put them in the dishwasher or that you have to run twice, making you waste time and energy.

That's not my experience. I have a relatively new Energy Star-rated dishwasher (KitchenAid) and it works great. The trick, as re-discovered by Technology Connections, is to take advantage of the prewash cycle and use a bit of prewash detergent along with the main wash detergent, and not use too much.

Check out the discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHP942Livy0

> can give good scores to dishwashers that force you to rinse all dishes

That's just simply false. Read your dishwasher's manual. It'll tell you not to pre-rinse dishes.

Why do you think that information is widely available?

Perhaps it's because there's a government program requiring it's disclosure and specific testing process?

If MPG labeling laws go away, what makes you think Ford will continue disclosing those values? And if they do, why wouldn't they start declaring MPG values driving downhill in a windtunnel giving the vehicle a tailwind?

You don't have to look too far to find those examples. Go to your local dealership that has some of the super duty trucks for sale. Notice how their spec sheet where the MPG is disclosed says "MPG testing not required" or something similar. Now how are you supposed to compare two trucks from the same brand, much less across two brands?

No third party certification is involved in those vehicles. Why do you think a third party would get involved in passenger vehicles if we relax the disclosure laws?

It would be advantageous to manufacturers if that information is not present. Consider then why it is.