GREENING SYNAGOGUES RESOURCES

Appliances

U.S. and Canadian environmental agencies have long cooperated to make our appliance shopping easy. Prominent on every major appliance is the “EnergyGuide”, a big yellow sticker with a spectrum showing the range of electricity consumption (measured in kilowatt-hours or KwH) for similar products. You want to buy something at the low end of the spectrum -- it’s that simple. And the US EPA’s Energy Star program makes it even easier by putting its trademark blue Energy Star label on anything at the top of its class. Think of it as a “hekhsher,” a seal which says that the appliance in question has been studied, and is fit or ‘kosher’ for you to use.

A typical home can save as much as 30% on its energy bills by switching to Energy Star-certified products. Synagogue savings are rarely so dramatic (numbers like that can only be attained through the HVAC system, and sometimes the lighting), but making sure that all appliances are Energy Star will definitely help. The technology for most of these is about the same as for their less efficient competitors, which means that the prices are about equal, too. That means, sadly, that many consumers are not yet prioritizing energy efficiency when choosing a product. But for us it means that we can get incredibly efficient appliances from the get-go at no premium, and still enjoy serious savings every month on a lowered electric bill!

Nearly every category of appliance now has Energy Star products in it. Refrigerators are perhaps the most important place to start, since they account for so much electric use; in synagogues, often computers and their accessories are the next-biggest source of potential savings (be sure that monitors, especially, bear the label). Click here for more information.