The Cheating Life

It's hard to disern the difference between outright fraud and incompetence.

We think that dishonesty and misrepresentation is a growth industry everywhere, and the energy conservation market is no exception. It takes place at all stages, from manufacturers that offer wishful thinking instead of actual performance specifications on products to contractors who knowingly fluff insulation. But perhaps more in the energy conservation market than elsewhere, it's hard to discern the division between outright fraud and incompetence. Do the contractors who fluff insulation do it because they are trying to cut corners or because they don't know any better? Who is to blame when ducts in a new home are never connected? This scrambling of fraud and incompetence undermines efficiency programs and, as the author of the article explains, drives out the honest, skilled contractors.

So how should we address these twin evils of fraud and incompetence? Just as cheating tends to be a dirty secret that no one wants to discuss, the answer is one that few want to hear: Spend more money.

First, we need more training. There are too few training and accreditation programs and too few requirements for trained contractors. Training needs active support at all levels, from the U.S. Department of Energy to local community colleges. We would not be surprised if $1 spent on training will save consumers $100 in avoided callbacks, utility bills, and early failures of installations.

Support for training begins to address the lack of contractor skills. But it needs to be reinforced by inspections. Previous articles in Home Energy have stressed the need for frequent inspections, and inspections of the inspections, to maintain satisfactory quality control.

Second, we need enforcement at all levels. We need code officials (who also need to be trained) with the experience (and the time) to inspect and recognize both fraud and incompetence. In some cases we can push the responsibility for a product's performance up the line, to the manufacturers of the heat pumps, the insulation materials, or the windows. They need to create strategies to ensure quality installation of their products--or face the legal consequences.

One aspect of enforcement is random inspections. These inspections can spot cheaters, but more important, they create a broader intolerance for cheating, which spreads over more products than are checked. Here the federal government has shirked its responsibility. For example, the governments of Hong Kong and Australia routinely test the energy efficiency of appliances sold there, but the U.S. Department of Energy has never had a budget for this activity. This is too important to be left to Consumer Reports.

Much can be done to minimize cheating and incompetence, but the one missing ingredient is personal integrity. No amount of legislation or regulation can create that. However, training and other activities that create pride of workmanship and product can go a long way.

Executive Editor

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