New standards for dish and clothes washers

Normal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONEMicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The Dept. of Energy recently announced energy-efficiency standards that are supposed to save consumers on the energy and water they use in to clean dished and clothes. The standards cover residential clothes and dish washers and were based on input from appliance companies, environmental activists, and consumer groups. The dishwasher standard goes into effect next year and will result in appliances that use an estimated 15% less energy and 20% less water. The clothes washer standard goes into effect in 2015 and could result in front-loading machines that use 15% less energy and 35% less water; top loading machines could see a 33% energy savings and a 19% water savings. DoE made no mention of how much energy and water is used to make the appliances. Nor is it mentioned whether the new appliances will actually clean clothes or dishes.

(For more info on energy efficient appliances that don’t clean, check out this editorial: Avoiding the washing-machines-that-don’t-wash syndrome.)

For list of residential appliances with government mandated efficiency standards, click here.