After hours of struggling with the absurdity of this credit on a project with a handful of new appliances and equipment - some that run continuously, some that don't, I decided to walk around the house and look at the nameplate stickers of some familiar appliances.

My refrigerator is not energy star (I know, I know) - the sticker has 115 Volts AC at maximum 7.9 Amps. This equals 905.50 Watts.
My Energy Star coffee maker is clearly marked 920 Watts, no high school physics required.

So great, I have 50% Energy Star Appliances - by Maximum Wattage.
But of course that is silly - because the refrigerator cycles on full about 1/3 of the day so that the daily usage is about 7268 Kwh/day.
The coffee maker, on the other hand, is used for 1/2 hour each morning, so its load is only 450 Kwh/day.
So really, only 5% of my total energy load is 'efficient'.

It seems to me, that the intent of the credit is to save energy, and we can't do that if the measure of a coffee maker is equal to the measure of a refrigerator. And the official intent of the credit?
'To achieve increasing levels of energy conservation beyond the prerequisite standard to reduce environmental and economic impacts associated with excessive energy use.'

As I look through all of these comments on everything from ice-makers to panini grills, it seems we are all missing that basic point.

So, is there an alternate method of calculation that would be more appropriate for mixing refrigerators and coffee makers - one that is based on actual usage in kwH and therefore rewards energy performance of the most energy intensive items?