From our president

This monthly letter to subscribers from Consumers Union President Jim Guest highlights the critical consumer issues behind our current reports. See archived letters.

The heat is on

Those of you who don't yet know that pellets can be more than rabbit food will want to check out our Alternative energy report, where we look at developments in heating your home. The rich information in this issue is one more way we help you save money and energy.

Our energy focus isn't new. We factor in the efficiency of appliances in all our testing and tell you the real cost of running them. Our ongoing tests have found that some use much more energy than their makers claim.

But our findings don't stop at your house. We use them to prod the government to redo standards so that whole categories of products become more energy efficient. A few years ago, we convinced the Department of Energy that its test procedures for dishwashers—loading them with spanking-clean dishes—missed the point. New protocols specify using dirty dishes.

We're not condemning federal energy programs; we just want the agencies to get them right. And so do you: A Consumer Reports survey found that in the past three years, one out of three Americans replaced an appliance with an energy-efficient model.

So we're asking the government to regularly update tests to apply to new designs; have a third party—not the manufacturer—verify test results; and reserve the Energy Star label for only the most efficient models so that it's a true symbol of energy savings.

Find out whether the phone you're considering is tied to just one carrier.

Even if it can be moved to another carrier, you might still need to "unlock" it. Ask how much it will cost to do that.

Jim Guest
President