What is the bottle water cooler?

A bottled water cooler is a free-standing device that dispenses water from removable 4- to 5- gallon plastic bottles commonly positioned on top of the unit. There are two types of bottled water coolers: (1) cold only units, which dispense only cold water or both cold and room-temperature water (known as "cook and cold"); and (2) hot and cold units, which dispense both hot and cold water.

How are energy efficency levels defined?

Energy efficiency levels are defined in terms of kilowatt (kWh)-hours consumed per day. Energy Star® labeled water coolers waste little energy when they are not heating or cooling water. About 60 percent of the energy consumed by standard cold only units and 90 percent of the energy consumed by standard hot and cold units is consumed while these units are in standby mode. Fewer kilowatts consumed means better energy perfomance.

How do water coolers qualify for the Energy Star label?

Bottled water coolers must have the following characteristics in standby operation:

How much energy could be saved?

Energy savings of roughly 60-70 percent could be gained by fitting units with insulation or a timer, which would cut the power to the cooling and heating units during periods of low demand. The value of installing an Energy Star labeled water cooler can be as much as a $47 per unit per year in lower utiliy bills. The pollution prevention potential of having all bottled water coolers meet Energy Star speciaifications is on the order of one-half million metric tons of carbon.