We think it’s absolutely crazy but, twenty-nine states and two U.S. territories have received Department of Energy approval to offer cash rebates on purchases of energy-efficient household appliances.
The rebates, which were authorized by the U.S. economic stimulus legislation earlier this year, are intended to encourage consumer spending and purge homes of older refrigerators, washing machines and other appliances that use more electricity than new models.
The $300 million of federal money will be distributed through individual state programs. All 50 states submitted rebate program plans that include specific rebate amounts for appliances with federal Energy Star efficiency ratings. Precise dates for the state programs were not disclosed by the Department of Energy. Most of the programs approved so far are projected to commence in February, March and April. Delaware, Kansas and Oregon are listed as beginning their rebate programs in December.
Other states approved include California, whose program begins in March; New York in February; Pennsylvania in March; and Illinois in January.
The appliance rebates have attracted strong interest from consumers in the aftermath of the popular “cash for clunkers” rebate program that boosted purchases fuel-efficient cars this summer.
Sales for Whirlpool, General Electric, Electrolux and other appliance manufacturers are down sharply as consumers have pulled back on discretionary purchases in response to the economic recession and high unemployment.
The whole notion is utterly daft as, for the most part, the energy savings being touted by some manufacturers won’t even be close to being the true savings and, in any event, very few of the products will be manufactured in the USA, most will come from overseas. Mainly the products are manufactured in low cost labour countries such as Mexico and China.
This is why we also maintain that any such scheme in the UK is a farce as virtually no appliances are manufactured in the UK asides from the energy savings issue.