Photo: Brandi Korte

Your new appliance is more expensive to operate than you think.

Since 2007, certain household appliances have carried revamped yellow Energy Guide labels that contain two key features. The first is the estimated annual costs of powering the appliance. The second is a linear scale that enables you to compare that figure with the costs of operating similar models. Both of these are useful, but neither provides up-to-date information.

Walmart recently put the kibosh on allowing flame retardants in any of its products. Photo courtesy of samantha celera.

Walmart blazes trail in banning flame retardants
Fed up with feds dragging their heals on banning a controversial flame retardant, retail giant Walmart recently enacted its own ban, reports the Washington Post. Known as polybrominated diphenyl ethers or PBDEs, this class of chemicals is found in everything from pet supplies to furniture and electronics, and has been linked to liver, thyroid and reproductive problems. Though the Environmental Protection Agency has listed PBDEs as a "chemical of concern," it has yet to ban them. Walmart may not be the greenest of companies, but its latest move is testament that it plans to uphold the second half of its motto, "Save Money. Live Better."

Bike lanes to take over Los Angeles
Spurned by an incident last year where a cab driver's rude behavior caused him to fall off of his bike and break his elbow, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa recently signed legislation to implement a bicycle master plan that calls for the creation of 1,680 miles of interconnected bike lanes, reports Grist. The plan, which will start with the addition of 100 miles of new lanes per year over the next five years, will be funded in part from a half-cent sales tax increase. The move is sure to help green LA's notoriousl image as a city full of bumper-to-bumper traffic and smoggy air.

On Feb. 8, a federal judge in Washington State sided with conservationists, energy efficiency boosters and the state's building code council, upholding new standards for energy conservation in new home construction. The homebuilders’ association had challenged the new standards, which went into effect this past Jan. 1, claiming they were in conflict with federal law.

Specifically, the homebuilders argued that the Washington regulations required new homes to have more efficient furnaces, water heaters, and others appliances than required by federal law. The state building code council and the energy conservation groups argued that the regulations simply require that new homes be 15 percent more energy efficient than the previous code mandated, and they offer a broad smorgasbord of ways to reduce energy use.

This is an old song. Whenever states try to take bold steps in the right direction, especially as regards the environment, some industry group will cry foul and argue that the new initiative violates federal requirements, or that there must be uniform national standards—anything that will keep the old, inefficient (but profitable) system in place.

Scott Blake Harris

We at Earthjustice are dismayed that a champion of energy efficiency, Scott Blake Harris, will be leaving his post at the U.S. Department of Energy. Harris, the department’s General Counsel, made the enforcement of energy efficiency standards for household appliances and commercial equipment a priority at DOE, and essentially built the department’s enforcement program from the ground up.

Harris came to the department in July 2009. Before then, there was zero enforcement of efficiency standards. His loss will be a big one at DOE, and his shoes large to fill.

Under his leadership, the department made significant progress on enforcement. DOE started a program to randomly select and review manufacturers’ compliance with certification requirements to ensure that appliances meet energy and water efficiency standards. In another huge leap toward energy efficiency, the department strengthened its ENERGY STAR labeling program by expanding testing of ENERGY STAR qualified products.

But that’s not all.