Washing Machines to Be Subject to Energy-Efficiency Standards in California

Photo credit: celila.

Given that clothes washing machines use several resources, like water, electricity and (sometimes) natural gas, it's kind of surprising that no government agency has tried to set standards for their energy efficiency.

Until now.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the California Energy Commission has prevailed in a lengthy lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy enabling the commission to set efficiency standards for washing machines. The new standard could go into effect in 2013.

According to the L.A. Times, the average washing machine uses 39.2 gallons of water per wash. The proposed standard would reduce that average to 21.1 gallons per wash.

The California Energy Commission estimates that 12 to 15 years after the new standard takes effect, the state could save 66.7 billion gallons of water. That's enough water to supply a city the size of San Diego every year, the L.A. Times says.

Energy savings would follow, too. California would need 50 million fewer therms of natural gas and 500 fewer gigawatt-hours of electricity to heat and move water around in the new clothes washers.

Number of Electrical Devices Explodes, Sucks World's Electricity

Save electricity all you want. The growing number of gadgets in your home will eat up those savings.

Electricity use is surging all over the world, says this New York Times article. All those iPods, flat-panel TVs, video game boxes and PCs are sucking up energy faster than we can produce it.

And not all of these devices are stingy with their power usage. Some flat-panel TVs soak up more electricity than do refrigerators.

Worldwide, consumer electronics is expected to make up 45% of household electricity demand in the next 20 years. To feed all those power-hungry devices, we'll need the equivalent of 560 coal-fired power plants or 230 nuclear plants, according to the International Energy Agency. The Times article contains a link to the IEA's report.

If the world doesn't want to build that many power plants, governments will have to start imposing energy-efficiency standards for consumer electronics. Refrigerators have them; why not electronic gadgets?

That must be what California regulators asked themselves, because the California Energy Commission recently proposed regulations that would drastically reduce energy usage of TVs sold in the state. The commission proposed that TVs sold after January 1, 2011 use 33% less electricity than current models. By 2013, that number will rise to 49%.

As usual, technology comes to the rescue. Or promises to. New LED (light-emitting diode) flat-panel TVs consume far less power than their LCD (liquid crystal display) brethren. In one Samsung LCD model, power consumption dropped from 170W to 100W when it was converted to an LED type.

But then, LED TVs are still about 1.5 to 2 times the cost of LCD TVs. By 2011, this gap may shrink as more manufacturers get into the LED game.

The makers of consumer electronics have taken many steps over the years to cut their energy consumption footprint. But just as cars and fridges made no great strides in energy efficiency until governments set down mandates, consumer electronics may become better at managing power given more regulations like California's.

Refrigerator Needs 100 Watt-Hours of Electricity a Day

Chest refrigerator. Photo © Tom Chalko.

If you've ever wondered how all the ice cream and french fries in supermarket freezers remain frozen even though the freezers don't have lids, well, it's because cold air is heavy and settles at the bottom.

Tom Chalko, an Australian scientist and inventor, used this property of air and some electronic apparatus to lower the energy usage of a chest freezer to just 100 watt-hours a day (pdf).

Which is the same amount of electricity a 100-watt bulb burns in an hour.

As if that weren't enough, he used the freezer as a fridge, setting it at between 4° and 7° C (39° and 45° F). Freezers typically run at 0° to -25° C (32° to -13° F).

Here's how Chalko did it.

He bought a 239-liter (8.4-cubic-foot) Vestfrost SE255 chest freezer and a battery-powered thermostat that had a digital temperature display and an internal latching relay. He took the thermostat apart and rigged it up so he could hang it on the wall and still have it cut power to the compressor when the appliance reached a certain temperature.

And then he sat back and watched his new chest refrigerator exceed his expectations. In the first 24 hours, the fridge used up 103 Wh. The compressor worked for only 90 seconds an hour.

100 Wh a day is 36.5 kWh per year. A fridge of similar size sold in the U.S.A. typically consumes about 317 kWh per year. Which makes Chalko's fridge about 9 times more efficient than an average appliance-store fridge.

Sure, it's a chest fridge, which is somewhat inconvenient, what with all the bending to retrieve food from lower shelves. There's a good reason why no manufacturer makes chest refrigerators.

But if you were set on saving energy with a chest fridge, you could put in movable shelves. Or not use the lower part of the fridge at all.

If you were paying for just 100 Wh of power a day, you could afford to use only half your fridge!

Appliance Rebate Program Gives the Environment and Economy Another Boost

After Cash for Clunkers, here comes Dollars for Dishwashers.

The U.S. Department of Energy has set aside $296 million to pay for rebates to consumers who buy qualified energy-efficient appliances. The money will be distributed to states according to a formula published in the Energy Policy Act of 2005. To see how much your state will receive, click here (pdf).

Appliances Covered by the Program
The DOE has recommended that states focus on 10 categories of appliances that qualify for the ENERGY STAR^® label. These are:

• central air conditioners
• heat pumps (air source and geothermal)
• boilers
• furnaces (oil and gas)
• room air conditioners
• clothes washers
• dishwashers
• freezers
• refrigerators
• water heaters

States can, however, pick whichever categories and models they want. They also have flexibility in setting rebate amounts.

Timing
The DOE has set a deadline of Oct. 15, 2009, for states to submit their final plans including the list of appliances they want to cover. The appliance rebate program will be mostly funded by Nov. 30, 2009. Shoppers can expect to receive their cash later this year or early next year.

No Trade-In
Consumers won't have to trade in their old appliances. They will simply receive a rebate when they buy a qualifying new one.

Manufacturers Want Uniformity
Manufacturers want uniform rules nationwide for models and rebates. I agree with them. A patchwork of different state directives will make it difficult to advertise and sell the appliance rebate program to consumers, and complicate administration.

Appliance retailing is split between national chains like Home Depot and Sears, and local independent stores. But local stores buy through regional or national purchasing co-ops, so most appliance ordering is done at a large scale.

Knowing rebate amounts on specific appliances will help the industry better predict demand. Manufacturers can then set production targets accordingly.

But whether the details are decided at the state or national level, I'm sure the appliance rebate program will be a success.

Appliance retailers are old hands at advertising rebates. Count on ads to start popping up on TV screens and newspapers.