Rejuvenating cure with Forgó-Morgó

More than 188 million electric appliances which are over 10 years old are used in European households. Their proportion is 40 per cent in Hungarian households. Hungary has joined the initiative from CECED to use less energy in households. The central figure in the campaign is “Forgó Morgó” who appears in various places to remind people that cheaper is in reality more expensive. According to Fanni Mészáros, director of CECED Magyarország Egyesülés, they spent HUF 60 million last year on informing consumers about the real operating costs of efficient household appliances, especially washing machines and refrigerators. Hungarian consumers are very sensitive to prices. Another Hungarian speciality is that older machines are often given to the granny or moved to the weekend house, instead of being disposed of. The average consumer does not care much about the environment and does not take into consideration that a higher purchase price usually means lower operating cost. CECED Magyarország Egyesülés launched its initiative to change this attitude. Manufacturers of household appliances have been preparing for higher energy prices for over a decade. They introduced labels for energy consumption and voluntarily limited the electricity and water consumption of their machines. As dr Fanni Mészáros has told us, they would like to get the government to grant tax allowances for purchasing or manufacturing energy and water efficient household machines.