Best energy appliance

The energy rating on appliances is A for the best. Some say they are A plus, which means they go much further. How do I get to know which is the best energy appliance on the market and how much power they consume in real pounds figures per ann? The A, B, C rating is too vague. Is this rating now out of date?

The energy rating on appliances is A for the best. Some say they are A plus, which means they go much further. How do I get to know which is the best energy appliance on the market and how much power they consume in real pounds figures per ann? The A, B, C rating is too vague. Is this rating now out of date?

The A, B, ... relates to the product. The most efficient fridge will use much less energy than the most efficient large dehumidifier, for example.

Ideally, you want a Kwh/cycle, or Kwh/year figure from the makers.

Does it relate to the product? or just a category for kwh/cycle/year?

i.e is there such a thing as a A rated tumble dryer?

A whirly washing line ? :-)

Neil

Well, one example might be one that used a heat pump to generate the heat needed to dry the clothes, and condense the water.

Usually the label has a predicted consumption under standard operating conditions. The A+ and A++ ratings have apparently come in this year because too many appliances got A (shades of school exams?) - see

I read on the Teletext that some minister was slagging elitist people for ribbing the A levels because lots of people passed them. They can't accept that there are many brainy people about these days. Very true.

The ones who gripe are mainly middle classy types upset that the working class kids can do better than their kids. Pathetic.

Yep, got a bosch one downstairs.

I expect that there is much the same proportion of brainy people out there now, as there was a few years ago. IQ being a standard bell curve distribution and all.

It think you will find the primary concern is that the exams might not be as difficult as they once were. This has little to do with class, since it devalues the achievement of all the pupils, and the merit of the qualification for all, irrespective of class.

As an aside, while in a bookshop the other day, I picked up some of the text books for A level computer science (or ICT as they call it these days). I was a little disappointed to see that depth each topic was explored to was almost trivial in comparison to what I would have expected to see at A level. In fact it was somewhat less than that which was expected of us when we did O level - let alone A level (in 1985/6).

While I accept this is not a scientific study, and has only has a sample set of one, I can see why parents, employers and universitys are worried.

I don't accept that. If say the government stated that all appliances must be super efficient and 90% met them, then according to you, the criteria must be moved so only a small %age get an A. Strange logic indeed.If 90% meet the standard in education or whatever then 90% are good.

The uni tests, predominately Oxbridge, are to make sure the private fee paying kids get in.

The energy+ ratings are a new standard that is better than the A-G eco labels because they are independently verified rather than just manufacturers ratings - see

I think you are mising the point. The makers of the appliances wish to sell more of them. Energy use is one sales tool thay have at their disposal. When only a few met the "A" standard - those few would make a big show of the fact so as to get differntiation in the marketplace. Now many can reach the standard, the makers need another way of making their products stand out from the crowd. A+ etc is the way they do it.

If however the government stated that all appliances should reach a particular "standard", but the standards testing body then (for whatever reason) kept lowering the actual standard they measure against, it would appear more appliances could reach the required "standard" that was in actual fact the case. This I am sure even you would accept would be a cause for concern.

But the point - for A-levels and appliance energy rating labels - is that once you reach a stage where (say) 25% of ratings are 'A' it becomes far less meaningful, denoting better than average rather than exceptional.

So with appliances you then have to have A+ and A++ grades to discriminate and universities start setting their own aptitude tests to sort out the A grade people from one another. I know that given a chance politicians would promise an educational system where everyone gets better than average marks but the reality is that only 10% of people are in the top 10%. Giving A grades to a much larger number just devalues the achievement those of any class who have got really good marks.

doesn't extend to appliances such as washing machines & dryers.

"IMM" wrote | The uni tests, predominately Oxbridge, are to make sure the private | fee paying kids get in.

Comparing the ratios of state:independent applicants and state:independent students, Oxford takes disproportionately greater numbers of students from the state sector than its applicants would suggest it should.

The only 'private fee paying kids' at British universities are those from outside the EU.

Owain

"John Rumm" wrote | It think you will find the primary concern is that the exams might not | be as difficult as they once were. This has little to do with class, | since it devalues the achievement of all the pupils, and the merit of | the qualification for all, irrespective of class.

During the last "That'll Teach 'Em" series, I was thinking how similar my education had been (in a rather backwards, academically demanding, but otherwise useless school) in the 1980s to that of the 1950s.

I have proof-read BA dissertations written in English that I would have been ashamed to submit as O level homework.

There's a second series set in a Secondary Modern starting later tonight.

| As an aside, while in a bookshop the other day, I picked up some of the | text books for A level computer science (or ICT as they call it these | days). I was a little disappointed to see that depth each topic was | explored to was almost trivial in comparison to what I would have | expected to see at A level. In fact it was somewhat less than that which | was expected of us when we did O level - let alone A level (in 1985/6).

That's because it's probably not real Computing Science - it's an A Level in Using Microsoft Proprietary Applications.

| ... universitys

Ahem :-)

Owain

Yes, on the site they quote the reason for Fridges and Freezers only is - "Impacting one of the most energy consuming domestic appliances in European households

Overall, domestic refrigerators and freezers' electricity consumption alone accounts for some 62 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year: about 2% of the European Union's total greenhouse gas emissions."

Dave

Yes quite - oops!

(it looked wrong as I typed it - but the odd thing was, the spell checker was happy with it, since it is a valid american spelling I presume)