me_irl

Efficiency is a double-edged sword manufacturers will manipulate how efficient their appliances are to make it look as though they're compliant.

For example new washing machines for clothing advertise to use very little water which technically they do. The problem is that they will drain and rinse several times throughout the cycle. Which in turn makes the cycle significantly longer.

A washing machine from the '70s used about 15 to 20 gallons of water per cycle but the cycle itself lasted for about 30 minutes.

Now a washer will use 5 to 10 gallons of water per cycle but the cycle is almost 2 hours long. The savings in water compared to the usage of electricity cancel each other out gaining you absolutely no increase in inefficiency.

A refrigerator from the mid to late '90s used about 40 to $50 a year in electricity new refrigeration uses $30 a year in electricity the increase to efficiency is so small that it's completely negligible.

And keep in mind modern appliances are nothing more than convenience. Aside from refrigerators of course, things like dishwashers clothing washers clothing dryers we don't actually need any of those we can do all that stuff by hand.