Life-cycle cost analysis of major appliances

Technical Report · Tue Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1980

OSTI ID:6814656

Turiel, I; Estrada, H; Levine, M

DOE has proposed energy efficiency standards for eight types of appliances. One of the criteria used to establish these standards is the economic impact of the standard on the consumers of the regulated products. A life-cycle cost analysis was performed for 32 classes of these eight appliances in order to gain a measure of the economic impact of equipment purchases on the consumer. Simple payback times were also computed to indicate how much time is required for the consumer to recapture his or her initial added investment in a more efficient product. Using national average energy use for each appliance type, we found that the proposed 1985 standards are cost-effective with respect to the energy efficiency levels projected to occur in the absence of standards for all classes of products. Simple payback periods range from several months for refrigerators and freezers to a maximum of 5.3 years for split system central air conditioners. A regional life-cycle cost analysis indicated that the distribution of costs and benefits from the proposed national standards varies significantly among the different regions for air conditioners and furnaces. In the region with the least cooling load hours, simple payback times are quite lengthy for air conditioners, and in some cases exceed the appliance lifetime.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Berkeley (USA). Lawrence Berkeley Lab.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6814656
• Report Number(s): LBL-11338
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290200 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Economics & Sociology
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320101* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Residential Buildings-- (-1987)
AIR CONDITIONERS
APPLIANCES
CLOTHES DRYERS
CONSUMER PROTECTION
COST
DRYERS
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ENERGY EFFICIENCY STANDARDS
FREEZERS
FUELS
HEATERS
HEATING SYSTEMS
HOUSEHOLDS
LIFE-CYCLE COST
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
PAYBACK PERIOD
PRICES
REFRIGERATORS
STANDARDS
STOVES
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
WATER HEATERS