You may never have heard of a gasoline-powered alarm clock, but the federal government thought it was such a grand idea that it gave the proposed clock its “Energy Star” label. That is the government’s way of telling consumers they can save energy with a particular product. Washington even provides tax rebates and credits to urge Americans to buy Energy Star products.
Unfortunately, the gas-powered clock was a hoax that slipped past federal officials who are supposed to be deciding whether a given product is really energy-efficient. All told, 15 phony devices got the coveted Energy Star label from the government.
The products were part of a sting operation to determine whether the program is as wonderful as it has been portrayed. The verdict of investigators in the General Accountability Office: The Energy Star program is “vulnerable to fraud and abuse.”
They can say that again. Another fake product that got government approval was a supposed air cleaner. It was nothing but a space heater to which someone had connected fly strips and a feather duster. Photos of the device are so ridiculous that it’s hard to believe anyone would take it seriously, much less say it deserves federal recognition.
As for that gas-powered alarm clock, one would think its size — a foot and a half tall and nearly as wide — and the obvious danger of using gasoline indoors would have raised regulators’ eyebrows. It didn’t.
Of the 20 bogus products submitted by undercover investigators, only two were turned down, and three more got no response.
So Washington has spent lots of taxpayer dollars handing out energy ratings that may be meaningless, and consumers cannot have certainty that Energy Star products are better than other goods.
If the federal government cannot handle a relatively small task such as that, we wonder how anyone can have confidence that it can run health care.