What does energy efficiency mean for individuals?
In the home, energy efficiency mostly applies to electrical appliances and heating. Governments have pushed manufacturers to produce increasingly low-energy devices, such as desktop computers, televisions, refrigerators and washing machines. Simple energy efficiency measures at home include installing loft and wall insulation, draught-sealing windows and doors and replacing incandescent bulbs with efficient, modern CFLs and LEDs. For more suggestions, visit our Green your home series. To find the most energy efficient products when shopping, look for trusted independent labels such as the EST Recommended badge, EU Energy Label and the US Energy Star standard. Online databases such as SUST-IT also list product types in league tables of efficiency. There are plans to overhaul the EU Energy Label, replacing the current A (good) to G (bad) scale with a number-based system. Cars are covered by a different energy efficiency scheme, which looks similar to the red-to-green EU Energy Label and
