”Now that ENERGY STAR® appliances are recognized by 75% of American consumers, the next step is to reshape when energy is being used,” said Kevin Nolan, Vice President Technology for GE Consumer & Industrial. ”Peak hour energy demand is growing faster than total energy demand. It is imperative that we begin to shift some of the energy load from peak hours to other parts of the day – – helping to avoid the need to build new power plants to meet the demand,” he explained.

For example, the automatic defrost feature on GE refrigerators is initiated by the internal electronics based on the number of refrigerator door openings and other input signals. If the refrigerator can delay the defrost cycle from occurring during peak energy usage hours, consumers will save money by paying for the same amount of energy later in the day when the rates are lower.

In addition to ‘’smart” refrigerators, GE will enable ranges, laundry pairs, dishwashers and microwave ovens to receive and respond to communications from the utility company. Consumers will be notified of a rate change or of critical peak pricing by the display on their appliances letting them know when higher rates are in effect. Appliances will be programmed to avoid energy usage during that time but consumers may choose to override the program – giving them ultimate control.

Units: About 73,000

Manufacturer: Sony Electronics Inc., of San Diego, Calif.

Hazard: Irregularly positioned wires near the computer’s hinge and/or a dislodged screw inside the hinge can cause a short circuit and overheating. This poses a burn hazard to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: Sony has received 15 reports of overheating, including one consumer who suffered a minor burn.

Description: The recalled notebook computer models are the VAIO VGN-TZ100 series, VGN-TZ200 series, VGN-TZ300 series and VGN-TZ2000 series. The computers’ screen size is about 11.1” measured diagonally. Not all units are affected; consumers should contact Sony to determine if their unit is included in the recall.

Sold by: The SonyStyle stores and Web site, authorized electronics retailers, and authorized business-to-business dealers nationwide from July 2007 through August 2008 for between $1,700 and $4,000.

Manufactured in: Japan and United States

Remedy: Consumers should stop using the recalled notebook computers immediately and contact Sony to determine if their notebook is affected. The firm will arrange for an inspection and repair, if needed.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Sony toll-free at (888) 526-6219 anytime, or visit the firm’s Web site at sony.com/support

The Fuego 02 Electric features a powerful coil heating element with a reflector plate that reflects heat back to the grilling surface.

Features Include:
Slate and teak countertops with hidden storage
Cast iron, enamel coated grill grate
1,650 watts
Fully retractable weather lid
Built-in wheels for easy mobility

“The Fuego 02 Electric provides an alternative for those eager to entertain in style but are limited by space and safety regulations,”said Alex Siow, CEO of Fuego North America.

To be certain your appliance is running properly:

The outside walls of the appliance should be warm. They can be up to 30 degrees warmer than room temperature.

You should be able to hear the compressor running ( as long as the surrounding noise level is low).

Check to see that the appliance is leveled and installed properly.

• Be sure the wood shipping base is removed
• Level the appliance from side to side
• Tilt it slightly backward to insure proper door seal
• Allow enough air space around the appliance and avoid high temperature locations.
• Do not store items on top of or close to the appliance

The appliance must be plugged into a proper circuit.

• It should not be plugged into a cicuit that is protected by a ground fault interrupt. If it is tripped, it will disconnect power to the appliance.
• Use a properly grounded three prong outlet.
• If you are unsure about the outlet, have it checked by an electrician.

So go check your fridge, see if it’s warm and has enough air space, then come back and see what we have to say about the Frigidaire freezer.

Units: About 4,600

Manufacturer: Viessmann Manufacturing Co. Inc., of Canada

Hazard: The boiler can leak gas, posing a fire hazard to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: None reported.

Description: The recall involves the Vitodens 200 boiler. The gas-fired boilers are white, wall-mounted and have “Viessmann” and “Vitodens 200” printed on the exterior in silver letters. The model and serial numbers included in the recall are listed below. The model number is located on the silver rating plate on the side of the boiler. Contact your certified HVAC contractor to open the boiler and locate the serial number on a white label on the side of the boiler, or under the bottom support panel. Vitodens 100 boilers are not included in this recall.

Sold by: Plumbing and heating contractors nationwide from January 2002 through December 2007 for between $4,000 and $7,500.

Manufactured in: Canada

Remedy: Consumers should stop using the boilers immediately weather permitting and contact their certified heating contractor or Viessmann for a free replacement of the boiler’s O-ring.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Viessmann U.S. toll-free at (888) 414-9157, visit the firm’s Web site at www.viessmann-us.com, or email the firm at o-ring@viessmann.com

Units: About 210,000

Importer: Wal-Mart Stores Inc., of Bentonville, Ark.

Hazard: An electrical short circuit can occur between the heating element and the bread cage, posing a fire and electrical shock hazard to consumers.

Incidents/Injuries: Wal-Mart has received 140 reports of fires or sparks coming from the toasters or the toasters tripping the circuit breaker in consumers’ homes. No injuries have been reported.

Description: The recalled toasters have a chrome steel body, a black plastic base and controls with either two or four openings in the top. The GE logo is located on the front of the toasters just above the controls. Model numbers 169115 and 169116 are included in this recall. The model number is printed on the bottom of the toasters.

Sold at: Wal-Mart Stores nationwide from September 2007 through July 2008 for between $17 and $28.

Manufactured in: China

Remedy: Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled toasters and return them to any Wal-Mart for a full refund or replacement toaster.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Wal-Mart at (800) 925-6278 between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.walmartstores.com

According toTheTimesTribune.com, across the country, shoppers bought more than 1.1 million freezers during the first six months of the year — up more than 7 percent from the same period last year, according to research firm NPD Group. That rings up to nearly $400 million in freezer sales — a staggering figure compared to the rest of the home appliance sector, where industry data shows shipments are down nearly 8 percent.

And, experts said, it’s a trend that’s expected to continue at least through much of next year as penny-pinching shoppers buy in bulk to take advantage of deals or bundle grocery shopping trips to conserve gas. About half of all U.S. households already have a chest or upright freezer, separate from the refrigerator-freezer combo that’s a kitchen stalwart, according to industry statistics.

To accommodate the rest — or cater to shoppers who want to upgrade to newer or more spacious models — some appliance makers are redesigning their products and marketing them as a way to put the freeze on rising food prices.

This summer, Frigidaire’s revamped upright freezers began hitting stores, as the brand owned by Swedish manufacturer Electrolux AB added specially designed shelves, baskets and other features to accommodate the appliances’ growing popularity.

Restart Srl makes personalized refrigerators with old styled brass finishing for different styles of kitchens in accordance to the particular architectural style of each house. Built around the best modern brands, including Liebherr, Amana and General Electric, these refrigerators, meet the highest energy saving parameters.

They also make range cookers, built-in ovens and hobs which effortlessly combine antique and classic looks with modern technology ensuring performance, functionality and safety, while giving your kitchen a unique look. Restart built-in ovens and hobs are made by ILVE. The ovens are air-cooled, multifunction and programmable and are also equipped with a heat-insulating triple cold glass to ensure excellent performance and to reduce power consumption. The oven window is typically covered with an antiqued brass or copper door allowing food cooking eye-control, and giving them the touch of Restart’s classic old-style. Cooking hobs, enriched with heavy cast iron gratings, are equipped with handle-knobs electric ignition and safety flame devices. All copper and brass are treated with an exclusive natural oxidation coating process, concurring to obtain the antique look of Restart appliances.

When will the green movement embrace the outdoor clothesline that stretched along so many of Baltimore’s backyards and alleys? Last week, I arrived home with bags of laundry from 14 days at the beach. After about an hour in my gas dryer, when a beach towel refused to dry, I declared the appliance all but dead.

No panic. I could, after all, handle the situation the way my mother did. Hang it outside to dry. Hang everything outside. Look, for the past few weeks we enjoyed sunny days with low humidity. Let the sun - not my natural gas supplier - do the work.

I have never owned a house with proper outdoor clotheslines. But I needed something to wear and figured I could improvise something with the help of poles that support my side porch awning. Before long, I had a dozens shirts and several towels out. In the hot afternoon sun, they dried as fast as the would have in my gas-fired dryer. I didn’t have to use fabric softener, and the clothes came inside with a clean, fresh smell.

My mother always claimed that doing laundry calmed her nerves. I can see her point. She never gave up on the sun and often swore that in the household art of spot and stain removal, there were few blots the sun’s rays could not lift.

She actually transported clothes from Baltimore to her summertime beach apartment, where she believed the sun would be more intense.

The laundry facilities in the old house - still there, still working - consisted of the well-used Kenmore washer and a pair of soapstone laundry tubs. There was also a ribbed washboard, scrubbing brush and an ample supply of homemade bars of super-tough laundry soap, which by family tradition was the secret agent for stain removal. That laundry soap was full of rendered fat and lye - all made atop the kitchen stove one flight up.

Grass stains, dirt and other annoyances were given a rigorous scrubbing with the lye soap and bristle brushes on the washboard. Oh, yes, we also used commercial soap powder, but we employed it sparingly.

We had two sets of laundry lines - one inside and another out. The inside set, strung along the cellar’s length, was used on rainy days or times when the temperature dropped below freezing.

The outside lines had to be strung on the days when clothes were put out to dry. They stretched across the length of our little garden and had to be supported with wooden props so the weight of the wet linen (bed sheets were the worst) would not pull everything down.

Baltimore once earned a nice reputation as having block after block of scrubbed marble steps. I often thought this was only half the story. You needed to check the backs of these houses on wash day.

In the days before the mechanical dryer was the household norm, brilliant, white sheets and pillowcases caught the breezes of Canton and Highlandtown. They resembled billowing sails.

I often wondered as I walked along these alleys if the launderers owned dryers or just believed in the sun’s power and refused to change their ways.

While consumers have warmed to energy efficiency only gradually, the trend is increasingly evident with household appliances. Overall U.S. sales by appliance manufacturers fell to $23.4 billion last year and continue to slump as fewer homes are built in a tight economy, but energy-efficient models account for a growing share.

In a reflection of increased consumer demand as well as manufacturers’ innovations, 55 percent of the major appliances shipped to stores and distributors in the first half of 2008 carried the government’s Energy Star rating for high energy efficiency — up from just under 50 percent a year earlier, according to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.

Manufacturers don’t break out sales of Energy Star appliances separately, but they total in the billions. Sales of washing machines alone accounted for $3.6 billion in 2007, and much of that was in front-loading washers.

Demand for front-loaders at Abt Electronics, a major retailer in Glenview, Ill., is up about 60 percent this year, according to general manager Marc Cook.

“People come in and their first question is, ‘Should I switch to a front-loader?”’ Cook said. “They like the technology, and when you sweeten it by saying they’ll be using less water and energy, then it closes the deal in their mind.”

Front-loaders and advanced top-loaders typically use only one-third the water of a conventional top-loader, using sophisticated wash systems to flip or spin clothes through a reduced amount of water while also dramatically decreasing the amount of hot water used.

In addition, enhanced motors spin clothes two to three times faster during the spin cycle to extract more water, reducing moisture in clothes and resulting in less time and energy in the dryer.

Look for the label

What energy-conscious buyers need to know most is to look for the yellow Energy Star label, which means a product is among approximately the top 25 percent of all product models in energy efficiency.

Energy Star is a 16-year-old joint program of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. It provides labels for qualifying products in more than 50 categories — from televisions to light bulbs to furnaces to clothes washers.

The label guarantees three things, according to program spokeswoman Maria Vargas: That the product is more energy-efficient than a conventional product — delivering the same or better performance using less energy; that it’s a cost-effective purchase that will pay for itself in five years or less; and that there’s no sacrifice in performance.

Shoppers should also check products’ EnergyGuide labels required by the Federal Trade Commission. The labels provide an estimate of the product’s energy consumption and show comparisons with similar models.

An Energy Star-qualified clothes washer uses 15 to 25 gallons of water per load compared with 30 to 35 gallons by a standard machine, saving more than 7,000 gallons of water a year. Combined with lower electricity costs, the government says the machine can save the user $550 in operating costs over its lifetime compared to a regular clothes washer.

Costs to consider

That can be welcome relief from increasingly burdensome household energy costs.

The average U.S. household will spend about $2,350 this year on energy costs, up from $2,100 in 2007, according to the Alliance to Save Energy, an energy information clearinghouse in Washington, D.C. Roughly a quarter of that is from appliances.

Of course, the added efficiency comes at a cost. Front-loaders can run $400 to $500 more than regular washers, with good-quality machines running $1,000 or more.

That’s not only due to the increased energy and water efficiency but also other innovations such as remote monitoring, use of steam for wrinkle reduction, reduced noise and vibration and bigger washing capacity.

“People want larger capacity, but they also want energy efficiency,” said Paul Dougherty, manager of a Grand Appliance chain store in Zion, Ill. “Two years ago they weren’t asking about that too often.”