Introduction

Appliances refers to a vast array of devices that account for about 35 percent of overall energy consumption in the United States. As was pointed out in an early California Energy Commission hearing determining the scope of the law that delegated to that Commission authority to regulate the efficiency of appliances, Webster's Unabridged Dictionary(2nd ed., 1979) defines appliance as "something applied to a particular use; a device or machine...." This broad definition allows products that use energy directly or indirectly for virtually any purpose to be considered as appliances.

This review adopts the broad perspective, recognizing that the primary policy mechanisms applied to improve energy efficiency—minimum efficiency standards, incentive programs, normative and informative labeling programs, and technology-driven market forces—can address a very wide variety of products.

Examples of products considered appliances under U.S. federal law, most recently modified by the Energy Policy Act of 1992, include...