EPA duped on Energy Star program

One of the EPA's signature programs is Energy Star, which awards tax breaks and other incentives to consumers who purchase low-energy appliances. You've probably seen the small, blue Energy Star label on everything from washing machines to light bulbs. Most recently, the EPA awarded $500,000 to two buildings in Hawaii that replaced more than 20,000 incandescent bulbs.

There's just one really serious problem: The entire program is fraudulent.

The Environmental Protection Agency certified that a “gas-powered clock radio” was an energy-efficient product under the government’s Energy Star program, despite the fact that neither the clock nor its manufacturer ever existed.

The clock and 14 other phony products were part of an investigation into the Energy Star program conducted by the Government Accountability Office, which submitted 20 fraudulent Energy Star applications from four fake companies. The EPA evaluated 16 of those products while the Department of Energy (DOE) evaluated four.

Fifteen of the phony products – including the gas-powered alarm clock – and all four of the fake companies were certified by EPA/DOE under the Energy Star program.

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One of the phony products, which GAO submitted as an energy-efficient air cleaner, was pictured on a phony Web site as nothing more than a space heater with a feather duster taped to it.

The EPA was so clueless on this one, it almost seems like the GAO was having a little fun. Let's see what absurd thing we can run past them next. The Energy Star program is a pet favorite of the president's, who awarded states $300 million in his stimulus for the purchase of Energy Star appliances. Obama also started a new program called Home Star, a $6 million initiative designed to make homes more green.

This isn't the first time Energy Star has been knocked by independent investigations. An Inspector General report released in 2008 determined that statements made by Energy Star about its effect on reducing greenhouse gases were grossly exaggerated. EPA chief Lisa Jackson has yet to comment on any of this.