1. CFL’s are excellent energy savers, but ones sold in the U.S. need Power Factor Correction technology built in, as they have now in Europe. This would save U.S. Consumers at least $14 Billion per year, and cost pennies to the manufacturer to add. Contact the manufacturers such as G.E., and demand that we be offered PF-Corrected CFL’s… And ask them WHY we haven’t in the past, knowing that the models sold in Europe have them as a requirement.
2. AC inductive motors also need Power Factor Correction installed, and U.S. Consumer appliance manufacturers should all be doing this, but currently do not. Older units can be modified to have a low-cost AC capacitor added to them, in order to save Consumers a total of over $150 Billion per year nationally (estimated); just from AC motors that are not Power Factor Corrected. When buying your next appliance, demand Power Factor Correction. Contact your power company and ask them why they never told you about all this; when they do already work closely with their industrial Customers to insure high and efficient levels of PF.
3. Power utility corporations should stop the deceptive practice of charging Consumers and small business by the “Kilo-Watt Hour” (which denotes Real Power), and instead use the accurate metric of “Volt-Amperes Hours” for Apparent Power. Or, even better, they should charge Consumers by Real Power instead of Apparent Power; and then we would see the need for Power Factor Correction for Consumers suddenly championed by the industry, forcing action (because it would then be in their interest to do so): Instead of this important technology being suppressed and ignored for decades, while we continue to pay significantly more for power than we should be. State Public Utility Commissions and Consumer Watch agencies can be contacted with the above easily verified information: Don’t let up, keep up the complaints until you are contacted back with meaningful answers. The more of us that do so, the faster we will see real results.
4. Corporations such as General Electric and others who build consumer devices such as CFL’s and major appliances need to explain to the American people why they have been deliberately allowing us to be over-billed for our power to such a staggering extent, and for so many years … If there was collusion between them and the power utilities, this needs to be investigated and uncovered. “Energy Star”, technically part of the DOE and EPA but in reality a “partnership” between the government, the electric utility corporations, and the electronics and appliance manufacturers; also has some serious explaining to do in this regard. When the IEC standards were introduced in Europe, Japan, China, and elsewhere in 2001… Why did the U.S. not follow suit (since to export to these countries, manufacturers must comply anyway)? And one would think if this was truly a “free and open market” industry , that one or another of our manufacturers eventually would embrace and proudly advertise this great money-saving technology to gain an edge over competitors: But we have not seen this. Why is this?… Contact the appliance manufacturers such as General Electric and demand to know why they do not offer Power Factor Correction technology for all their inductive Consumer appliances and CFL’s.
Nothing we have seen in the mainstream energy arena in recent years has created a bigger improvement in efficiency than Compact Fluorescent Lamps. They should be used in every American home and office; to save energy and money both. But this does not mean that the power companies should be allowed to “keep” half of those impressive savings for themselves…If indeed there was some monstrous secret deal made between them and the manufacturers to suppress and ignore Power Factor Correction in Consumer devices, it was made without our approval… And as the Customer, we do have a voice: One that rings with another kind of “Real Power”. So let us use it… And generate some “corrections” of our own.
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