Looking for an energy star air purifier to save electricity bill and save the environment at the same time?
Then you’ve come to the right website. This article is going to help you to shop for the best energy saving air purifier, which saves energy without sacrificing performance and comfort.
But first, let’s see what energy star means.
Energy Star … What Does It Mean ?
ENERGY STAR label is awarded by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to products which save energy while maintaining performance. By being energy efficient, energy star products reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by the inefficient use of energy.
In order to do so, EPA sets out a series of guidelines by which a product must adhere to before getting the energy star label. Some of the guidelines are as follows:
- Must contribute significant energy saving without sacrificing performance.
- Energy saving can be measured accurately.
- If a particular product costs more than the conventional ones, customers should be able to recover the benefit of having an energy star products at a reasonable time.
How Much Do You Save With Energy Star Air Purifier ?
According to the EPA website, a conventional air purifier running continuously consumes 835 kWH (kilowatt-hour) per year in average. This means that the device itself has a wattage of around 100 watt, or 0.8 ampere for a 120 volt device (0.8 ampere x 120 volt is 96 watt, which is very close to 100 watt).
If 1 kWH costs approximately 12 cents, then it costs around $100 per year to run a conventional air purifier.
How about the energy saving air purifier ?
We found that most of energy star air purifiers fall between 10-50 watts for normal setting, and even lower for the lowest or night setting. Therefore, if the cost of operating a conventional 100 watt air purifier is $100 annually, then the annual cost of operating an energy star air purifier with 10-50 watt is $10-50, which represents 50% and more saving in energy bills.
How do we identify an energy efficient air purifier ?
There are two ways for identifying green air purifier:
- First, by the label. An air purifier certified as energy saver by EPA should have a visible energy star label on it.
- Second, by looking at the wattage of the device. A conventional air purifier described by EPA as consuming 835 kwH per year has a wattage of around 100 watt. So, anything around 100 watt for normal setting (that is, not the highest setting) is not said to be energy efficient.
However, it is important to understand that there are many types of air purifier within energy star air purifier label. First, each has actually different wattage. And second, there are performance differences.
Therefore, the guidelines of buying a good performing energy star air purifier is:
- Look for sign of energy star in the device. No brainer, right ?
- Look at the wattage of the device. At normal setting, it should be less than 100 watt. Sometimes, an energy star certified air purifier has 100 watt for the highest setting. It’s acceptable to have such wattage for the highest setting because consumers seldom use the highest setting for a day-to-day operation.
- Look for the one with the timer and/or air quality sensor. This is so that air purifier can adjust itself automatically according to the needs. Most Asian-made air purifiers have this feature.
- Look at performance. Usually, performance is measured through CADR (clean air delivery rating) measured by AHAM (Association of Home Appliances Manufacturers). Although AHAM’s CADR does not tell the whole story and has put some best air purifiers in disadvantage, it’s nevertheless a useful standard for helping customers to evaluate air purifiers. We recommend you to not rely on AHAM rating alone when you are thinking of buying premium air purifiers since some of the best air purifiers are not ranked highly by AHAM air purifier rating system. However, these CADR are especially useful for comparing performance of less expensive air purifiers (below $250) which specialize in removing bigger (more than 1 micron) particles. For an air purifier to be rated excellent, the CADR has to be 350 or above. A poor air purifier has a rating of 100. For more information on CADR, look at our air purifier rating method page.
Eco-Friendly and Energy Saving Products~ Where to Buy
Energy star air purifiers can be purchased either in specialty stores or general online stores. Online specialty stores, like: Allergybuyersclub, Achooallergy and ClearFlite in US tend to sell only select energy saving air purifiers since they cater to consumers which have medical problems and therefore need a high end air purifiers.
In contrast, you often can get more variety of energy efficient air purifiers from general online stores, like Target and Amazon.
