WASHINGTON – As part of the Obama Administration’s focus on taking sensible steps to save families money while also reducing energy consumption, the Department of Energy today announced common-sense energy efficiency standards for residential clothes washers and dishwashers that will save consumers $20 billion in energy and water costs. The new standards for both clothes washers and dishwashers were informed by important feedback from manufacturers, consumer groups and environmental advocates, producing significant savings while retaining consumer choice. The clothes washers standard announced today will save households approximately $350 over the lifetime of the appliance, while offering consumers a variety of more efficient machine choices, and as a result of the standards for dishwashers, home dishwashers will use approximately 15 percent less energy and more than 20 percent less water, directly providing consumers with savings on monthly bills.
Today’s announcement is only the most recent in a series of common-sense efficiency standards made by the Obama Administration that have covered nearly 40 different products, and will together save consumers nearly $350 billion on their energy bills through 2030.
“Working with consumer, industry and environmental groups to develop common-sense energy-saving appliance standards is an important part of the Obama Administration’s all-of-the-above approach to American energy and the Energy Department’s efforts to reduce energy costs for consumers,” said Secretary Chu. “Collectively, these energy efficiency standards for everyday appliances have saved American families hundreds of billions of dollars and offered consumers more efficient, less costly appliances without sacrificing performance.”
“DOE’s implementation of these new standards reflects the consensus agreement reached by stakeholders. It will result in tremendous energy savings for the consumer while preserving product choice and minimizing manufacturer impact. The home appliance industry is proud of its long history of energy efficiency advancements benefiting consumers and applauds DOE for working with stakeholders to increase energy efficiency,” said Joseph McGuire, President of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.
“Clothes washer and dishwasher energy efficiency has improved dramatically over the past two decades while also improving clothes washing performance and maintaining dish washing performance,” said Steve Nadel, Executive Director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. “These improvements have been driven by a combination of manufacturer and utility efforts, Energy Star, federal tax incentives and minimum efficiency standards. We support the new DOE minimum efficiency standards which will raise the floor, helping to spur further efficiency improvements.
The new standards – developed in partnership with companies like Whirlpool, General Electric and LG Electronics, industry advocates, national environmental organizations, consumer groups and other stakeholders – build on previous minimum energy efficiency requirements for clothes washers and dishwashers and go into effect starting in 2015 and 2013, respectively.
Today, clothes washers and dishwashers account for approximately 3 percent of residential energy use and more than 20 percent of indoor water use in homes across the country. The new standards for clothes washers will reduce the energy consumption of front-loading clothes washers by 15 percent and reduce water consumption by 35 percent, while top-loading washers will save 33 percent on energy and 19 percent on water use.
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