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My home was equipped with energy efficient appliances when I purchased it in 2003. However, recently, we've had trouble with our Energy Star Amana refrigerator circa 1998. In my case, the freezer wasn't freezing well anymore... even with clean coils. Since my refrigerator was 12 years old, I didn't bother getting it repaired and began searching for a suitable, energy efficient replacement. The general rule of thumb is that a 10 year old appliance is worth replacing instead of repairing since the efficiency gains will end up saving money in the future.

I started my search at the websites of the two home improvement stores near my home. In my case, those stores were Home Depot and Lowes. I prefer using the internet to save two trips to the store to compare prices and brands. However, I always purchase the product in my local store to keep revenues near home. Both sites had a good search utility that let me search for new refrigerators by price and Energy Star. However, both Lowes and Home Depot were featuring an Energy Star refrigerator on their appliance landing pages. After a little research on both sites, I was able to narrow my choice to a General Electric and a Whirlpool model that are both Energy Star and the style I was looking for.

With two choices in hand, I visited the Energy Star Appliance Finder site to compare the two models. Both models were comparable in efficiency and have the same Energy Star state rebate. My final choice was down to familiarity and preference for the General Electric brand.

I made a visit to the local store, purchased the refrigerator and arranged for delivery. Make sure that your local store will pick up and properly recycle your old appliance. This is a requirement for most Energy star state rebates.

After purchasing the refrigerator, I went online to the Energy Star Rebate Finder, selected my state and filled out the rebate form to make a reservation. In Georgia, the rebate is a Visa Prepaid $50 card. After printing my rebate reservation form, I made a copy of the receipt and mailed them off to the state environment authority.

If you're in the market for a new energy efficient appliance, make sure to visit our Mapawatt community and read our Mapawatt Learning article on selecting an Energy Star appliance.

Let us know how your appliance selection works out.

- The Mapawatt Team