Massive fraud in the EPA/DOE Energy Star Program. Automated system allows fake products to get approval.
WASHINGTON — Does a “gasoline-powered alarm clock” qualify for the EnergyStar label, the government stamp of approval for an energy-saving product?
Like more than a dozen other bogus products submitted for approval since last June by Congressional auditors posing as companies, it easily secured the label, according to a Congressional report to be issued Friday. So did an “air purifier” that was essentially an electric space heater with a feather duster pasted on top, the Government Accountability Office said.
See photo below
In a nine-month study, four fictitious companies invented by the accountability office also sought EnergyStar status for some conventional devices like dehumidifiers and heat pump models that existed only on paper. The fake companies submitted data indicating that the models consumed 20 percent less energy than even the most efficient ones on the market. Yet those applications were mostly approved without a challenge or even questions, the report said.
Auditors concluded that the EnergyStar program was highly vulnerable to fraud.
Maria Vargas, an official with the Environmental Protection Agency, which runs the program with the Energy Department, said the approvals did not pose a problem for consumers because the products never existed. There was “no fraud,” Ms. Vargas emphasized. She said she doubted that many of the 40,000 genuine products with EnergyStar status had been mislabeled.
…
Yet auditors found problems beyond the approval of nonexistent products. They determined that once a company registered as an EnergyStar partner, it could download the logo from the government’s Web site and paste it on products for which it had not even requested approval.
The report is only the latest in a series involving the 18-year-old EnergyStar program, which was set up to guide the public on energy-efficient choices that could both save people money and help reduce the nation’s runaway energy consumption.
Watchdogs within the Environment Protection Agency and the Department of Energy have reported in the past that Energy Star has taken some claims of energy efficiency on faith. Yet the new study suggests that it often does so on remote control.
Congressional auditors said they were told by EnergyStar officials that some of the approvals, including the one for the gasoline alarm clock, had been issued by an automated system and that the details had probably never been reviewed by a human being.
Read the rest at the New York Times here.
A full report is available at the GAO:
Summary web page here.
Highlights PDF here
Detailed report PDF here
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Somehow, I’m not surprised. I’m not sure why I’m not surprised, but I’m not,
Oh, wait. Yes, I am sure why I am not surprised. Government is full of well-paid idiots.
I just can’t stop chuckling over the gasoline powered alarm clock. How in the world does one get to sleep in the first place with a 4 stroke next to ones ear? An then how the heck would ones ears be able to hear the alarm over it?
Hey, it’s the thought that counts, right?
Video killed the EnergyStar.
(We can’t rewind, we’ve gone too far.)
Let’s see -“Maria Vargas, an official with the Environmental Protection Agency, which runs the program with the Energy Department, said the approvals did not pose a problem for consumers because the products never existed. There was “no fraud,” Ms. Vargas emphasized. She said she doubted that many of the 40,000 genuine products with EnergyStar status had been mislabeled.”
So if completely bogus products got approved it’s okay because they really didn’t exist – and so there was no fraud – she doubted that many of 40,000 genuine products were mislabeled. As a consumer I am so confident of her ability to doubt, that I will spend the night wondering if any of my EnergyStar certified products are going to burst into flames.
She missed her calling – she could be a “Climate Scientist”. I would like to recommend her to head up the next IPCC report. I am sure that with such proven management skills and her ability to doubt there is any problem in the face of total failure to insure documentation is accurate in consumer products would be a big plus. sarc/off
That would wake me up, especially if it were a two stroke. 🙂
Never mind that the 4 cylinder alarm clock doesn’t exist, if it’s been approved where do I download my rebate form?
With such attention to detail and superior ability to doubt she should head up the next IPCC report.
Meanwhile I will toss and turn all night wondering if my EnergyStar appliances are going to burst into flames.
The approval of the space heater with a feather duster stuck in it is going to be in my head for hours as I toss and turn.
I can’t wait till Maria Vargas takes control of the cap and trade program or until her “likes” in the other agencies of the government regulate my health care needs.
Man – that gasoline powered alarm clock sure looks cool though. How fast it is? I bet it does 0 to 60 seconds in … um … 60 seconds.
Only from the mouth of a bureaucrat would such nonsense be taken seriously:
If such sloppiness came out of a business, it would be fined and there would be loss of business – and jobs. Since this is government, they’ll hire more people, get a bigger budget, and more power. And probably hit hard at businesses for their failures.
And remain in their comfortable and secure jobs with regular and steady raises, job security, health benefits paid for by overburdened taxpayers, and a retirement plan also paid for by taxpayers which would bankrupt a regular business.
Ain’t the life of a parasitical slug marvelous.
|| Maria Vargas, an official with the Environmental Protection Agency, which runs the program with the Energy Department, said the approvals did not pose a problem for consumers because the products never existed. There was “no fraud,” Ms. Vargas emphasized. She said she doubted that many of the 40,000 genuine products with EnergyStar status had been mislabeled. ||
Yeah, right.
And the Easter Bunny is the Prophet of Gaia.
I’ll let you decide which pronouncement has more credibility.
“Maria Vargas, an official with the Environmental Protection Agency, … ” etc
Classic post-modern thinking.
Ignore a basic wrongness because it seems that so far nobody’s likely to be in a position to complain. CYA, denial of any shortcomings, evasion of responsibility. Remain firmly blame-free and judgment-free.
Could easily be a climate scientist.
Hey, let’s let them run health care. What could go wrong?
Hey, I want that gasoline powered alarm clock! I will use it tomorrow morning in fact to get a good start to celebrating Human Achievement Hour formerly known as earth hour. And I will need to get up early to string up all my Clark Griswold Christmas lights!
(do you think I could run that alarm clock with ethanol blended gas?)
I’m about to submit an application for a ‘male bovine excrement powered knowledge base’. That would be some real green energy, wouldn’t it?
[T]he federal government and various states offer tax credits and other incentives to encourage the use of energy-efficient products including Energy Star products. Specifically, approximately $300 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will be used for state rebate programs on energy-efficient products.
$300 mil in Stim funds are up for grabs. Who wouldn’t commit fraud for that kind of coin? Give poor Maria a break. What’s she supposed to do, fight off wolves with a stick?
We get the kind of gummit we deserve. We elected the wolves, after all.
This story reminds me of a semi-famous Clinton-era Al Gore appearance on a late night show, in which he was bragging about how much his anti-government waste program had saved on the cost of ash trays in federal buildings. He did his all-knowing, wise, bragging bit and then the host said something like (this is the gist of it. Memory fails,) “But surely you know that smoking in federal buildings has been banned, so I think we can save even more money on ash trays.”
This IS hysterical. More comedy from one of our vaunted Government environmental programs. They are becoming a laugh a minute.
“Is this particular model (the 655x**) available in cordless? In-store? Now??
You, you mean it comes complete with non-rechargeable supply and no sump thrown in?…… ”
Yup, Ma’m, we even throw in a completely useless free guarantee valid against almost nothing that can’t go wrong. And all lock stock and valid so either your covered between date of purchase or the operator module proves defective…
“Gee, honey, its great to be in London….take me next to ‘Carbon City’…….let’s spend together like no other did…
As the Official Shill For Shell I will clarify this matter.
This item is real and runs on CO2 absorbed from the air. Between movements of the second hand it extracts hydrogen from water vapor in the air and stores it in that little tank.
The assertion that Congressional Auditor were ever involved is an urban myth.
16 comments right on target.
oT but earth hour just started here in new Zealand 3 out of 4 houses in my street have their light of but you can see their tv on.All my light are on. By the way the movie that on tv is that comedy THE DAY AFTER.
And the Easter Bunny is the Prophet of Gaia.
You have been reading Naked Lunch again haven’t you?