Clothes Washers. The Sustainability Standard for Household Clothes Washing Appliances was developed in a manner similar to the refrigeration standard development. It was also a joint effort of AHAM, CSA, and UL and is referred to as AHAM-7003-2013/ CSA SPE-7003/ UL 7003. First published in May of 2013, it also recognizes that there is more to a sustainable clothes washing appliance than just water use and energy consumption. Eligible products can be evaluated for their sustainability under this Standard based on six attributes each of which provides points that can be awarded through a combination of prerequisite and optional point items as follows: (note that the first five attributes are required; Item (f), innovation, is a bonus attribute, and is therefore not required):

 

For clothes washing appliances to be considered as having some level of recognized environmental performance under this Standard, such appliances shall

(a.) Receive a minimum total of 60 points.

(b.) Meet ENERGY STAR® performance criteria within the attribute of “energy and water consumption during use”.

(c.) Meet the requirements of the product performance prerequisite.

(d.) Show a balanced manner of reaching the 60 point level such that some points are attained in each of the 5 required attributes (i.e. items (a.) – (e.) above).

(e.) Under the Materials attribute, meet the prerequisite and receive at least one point in certain evaluation subsections.

(f.) Under the Manufacturing and operations attribute, meet the prerequisite and receive at least one point in certain evaluation subsections.

(g.) Under the End of life attribute, meet the prerequisite and receive at least one point in certain evaluation subsections.

The published clothes washing standard goes on to provide the details of all of the attributes, testing and documentation required similar to the refrigeration standard. It is anticipated that AHAM will continue to develop similar voluntary standards for other types of appliances. In fact, they have pending standards for dishwashers and cooking appliances that may be released during 2014.

Emerging Technology in Appliances

All of the advances in the energy efficiency of appliances come directly from advances in the technology used in the design, fabrication, and operation of those appliances. Each of the 5 major appliance categories have seen real energy savings benefits due to the research, development, and field engineering efforts of appliance manufacturers. Some of these advances are discussed in more detail in the following sections.

Technological advances in the design and manufacture of appliances have created a new generation of very energy and water efficient products. Photo courtesy of Whirlpool Corporation

Refrigeration

Refrigerators have typically been cited as the most energy intensive household appliance because they operate 24 hours a day, every day, all year. Improvements in the mechanical portion of the refrigerator, the insulation used, and the ability to control when it is used all have helped to reduce the amount of energy used and the associated cost.

Refrigerator compressor technology is one of the notable advancements made in recent years. Many of today's compressors can operate at variable capacity as opposed to older compressors which operated either at 100 percent on or 100 percent off. The variability allows them to adjust to work only as hard as conditions warrant. These compressors are generally more efficient in terms of the energy required for work provided compared to older models. Some refrigerators also include multiple evaporators—one for the fresh food compartment and one for the freezer. A dual evaporator system increases the efficiency of the appliance because air is cooled only to the temperature required by each compartment (instead of pulling very cold air from the freezer for use in the fresh food compartment). From a usage standpoint, this has additional consumer benefits such as more even temperature distributions, higher humidity level in the fresh food compartment which generally leads to food staying fresher longer, less freezing potential of fresh food, and no odor transfer between the freezer and fresh food compartment.

The insulation used in refrigerators is being updated in many cases and becoming more environmentally benign. Blowing agents are used in the insulation foaming process of the refrigerator doors and cabinet. Old blowing agents had very high global warming potentials while newer ones are being adopted by appliance manufacturers, which have reduced this global warming potential by more than 99 percent.

In terms of refrigerator control, some manufacturers are offering “smart refrigerators” with internet connectivity that supports remote control functionality. By connecting to the “smart grid” of a public utility company, these refrigerators are able to automatically understand (in time of use pricing zones) when the price of electricity is higher than other hours and delay certain energy intensive functions (such as defrosting, or ice harvesting) to periods when the energy is cheapest. While this approach does not lower the overall energy usage, it does lower the cost to operate. In addition, this connectivity allows the owners to change temperature settings from their smart phone or even be notified if a door was left open. The smart refrigerator can also send an alert of a power outage which can help in identifying food or medicine that may have spoiled during that time.

Dishwashers

Overall energy and water use are key drivers in dishwasher performance. A significant portion of the energy used by a dishwasher is the energy required for heating the water they utilize, since many dishwashers on the market use internal booster heaters. That is actually a good thing, because it allows domestic hot water heater temperatures to be turned down to around 120°F instead of the higher temperatures desired for dish washing (sanitizing). The lower water heater temperatures mean less energy is used on an ongoing basis with the higher temperature created only for the intermittent needs of the dishwasher.

Many new dishwashers today include sensors which detect how dirty the specific load is and can adjust the wash cycle parameters to optimize energy and water use for the level of soiling, thus conserving resources. Even without this sensor, many new models can be programmed manually to match the level of washing or drying desired. This can include a simple rinse option which can actually use much less water than rinsing dishes by hand. New technology has just been launched which allows the dishwasher to save the last rinse of water for reuse in the prewash of the next cycle. This cuts water use by a further 33 percent over a comparable product today. When it comes to drying dishes, controls become important. Dishwashers that have a no-heat drying option typically provide good drying results with less energy since electricity is the source of the drying heat.

Just like refrigerators, dishwashers are starting to be offered in “smart” models. By connecting to the smart grid, they offer consumers the option to delay the start of the cleaning cycle until electricity prices are lowest (in time of use zones). They can also change any energy intensive drying settings based on the price of electricity. Furthermore, through internet connectivity these smart appliances can notify customers when their dishes are clean or when there are issues to address.