DOE Raises Energy Efficiency Standards for Home Appliances
Posted by Becky Vickman on Tue, Sep 20, 2011 @ 10:27 AM
Home appliance manufacturers and energy efficiency advocates have agreed to improve energy efficiency standards for refrigerators, freezers, clothes washers, clothes dryers and dishwashers starting in January 2012.
The new standards will improve the efficiency of home refrigerators and freezers by roughly 25% by 2014. These standards are expected to deliver more than $200 in electricity bill savings for the typical consumer over the lifetime of the appliance. According to a DOE analysis, these standards will save enough electricity each year to power 3.4 million homes.
The biggest savings will come from the efficiency gains in clothes washers, which will see water and energy savings in 2015. Top loading clothes washers will reduce energy usage by 26% and water usage by 16% as of 2015, increasing to 37% energy and water savings in 2018. Front loading clothes washers will reduce energy use by 43% and water use by 52% by 2015. Clothes dryers will increase in efficiency by 5% in 2015. Changes to the dryer testing procedure will reduce over-drying, saving additional energy and extending the life of clothes.
Effective January 2012, Energy Star dishwashers will be 8% more efficient than previous Energy Star models and 10-30% more efficient than conventional models. In addition, dishwashers will see 14% energy savings and 23% water savings beginning in 2013. If every dishwasher in the U.S. met these new requirements, consumer energy and water bill savings would grow to approximately $235 million per year, reducing annual greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to more than 180,000 vehicles. At this time, roughly 20% of dishwashers available for sale meet the 2012 requirements.
These new appliance standards are estimated to cut home’s energy bills by about 6% overall. While the gains will be important, most homeowners will not replace every appliance in their home. Because of this, it could be decades before the full energy savings are realized.
There’s more to these new standards than just energy efficiency. Additional key features of the agreement include:
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Manufacturers’ tax credit extension: The current manufacturing appliance tax credits impact approximately 40,000 U.S. jobs; updating and extending the credits should help manufacturers retain and expand employment.
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Special Energy Star credit for smart appliances: A planned petition to the Energy Star program would ask for a 5% credit to the required levels for smart appliances.
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Recommendation for better drying and refrigerator test methods: The agreement recommends that DOE improve test methods for dryers and refrigerators to better represent actual product use.
Although the savings from new appliances might mean only about 6% for a homeowner who makes the investment, there are a lot of other advantages to the new agreement. At the end of the day, everyone really just wants to save money without thinking about it, and Energy Star appliances are a great way to do just that.
