IT has been undeniably hot in the country since the dry season began, with high weather temperatures and heat index levels that are deemed dangerous for the body.
According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), there is an 80 percent chance for El Niño to develop later in the year, which could mean persistent hot weather and dry spells.
As early as now, people are resorting to practical ways to cool their heads amid the hot weather, such as relaxing in an airconditioned room or sipping refreshing cold drinks. Thus, it is becoming increasingly important to get appliances that would help beat the heat without breaking the bank.
The kinds of appliances consumers purchase would also affect the livability or the practicality of one’s home.
Inverters have long been used as an energy-saving technology for a wide range of appliances but particularly for refrigerators and airconditioners. Without an inverter, appliances with traditional generators would consume a lot of energy.
“For air conditioners that are used for long hours and refrigerators that are used everyday, you would save on energy because it consumes less power. Once the appliance reach its desired temperature, it would maintain that temperature on low energy and save power in the long run,” said Rodger Luna, Mindanao Technical Officer for Excellence Appliance Technologies (Exatech).
Aside from the practical inverters, there is also the Philippine Energy Labelling Program (PELP) for appliances created by the Department of Energy (DOE). Consumers can find these on leading brands of air conditioners and refrigerators like Daikin, among others.
PELP’s star rating system makes it easier for consumers to determine the energy efficiency of appliances, with five stars being the most efficient energy saving and three stars for the average energy saving.
In fact, the PELP also uses a QR code system that will show consumers how much energy is being consumed and how much energy is being saved whenever they use the appliances, contrary to the old Energy Guide that requires manual computing.
“Sa DOE Energy Label karon, more efficient kasi makita na didto ang rating unlike before na ikaw pa mag-compute. Now, more on numbers or ratings na makita mo ang rating per unit. Kung higher number, meaning to say it is more efficient,” Exatech branch manager Danilo Besinan said.
(With the DOE Energy Label, it’s more efficient because it will show you the rating without having to compute it. It shows the number of rating per unit. The higher the number, the more efficient it is.)
Charlen Romanillos, sales coordinator of Exatech, added, “With the QR, you can easily see your monthly consumption, pwede nila i-QR everyday or every week (and you can do it whenever you like).”
For consumers looking to buy a new cooling unit for their homes, one of the leading air conditioning brands Daikin has different options that all have five-star ratings, namely their D-Smart, D-Smart Lite, D-Smart Queen, and D-Smart King models.
Daikin is actually the first air conditioning company that received five-star ratings from DOE since the PELP was implemented in 2020, which makes it a reliable brand for air conditioning units.
For air conditioners in particular, the PELP star rating determines the unit’s Cooling Seasonal Performance Factor while the Energy Efficiency Factor is used for refrigerators and television sets.
Take for example Fujidenzo’s ISR-20SS and IBM-12SS refrigerators. ISR-20SS has a five-star rating for a 20-cu. ft. side-by-side unit and IBM-12SS has a four-star rating for a 12-cu.ft. bottom freezer unit.
Since refrigerators are used daily and traditionally consume a lot of power, consumers will still see a difference in their electricity bill when the unit uses inverter technology and has a proper PELP label.
“For refrigerators, naay gamay and naay dako. Sa mga dako, dako gyod ang consumption kay dako siya og capacity. Sa dako na model na fridge, isa si Fujidenzo na five-star so meaning tipid siya sa kuryente as a big unit,” Romanillos said.
(Refrigerators have small and big units. For big units, it will typically consume a lot of energy but Fujidenzo has one of the big refrigerator units with a five-star rating, meaning it is very energy-efficient for its size.)
Since the hot weather is anticipated to persist until next year, appliance experts advise consumers to look out for energy-efficient units with the proper Energy Label to make the most out of their purchase. ICM