Environmental Organizations and Appliance Manufacturers Sign Historic Efficiency Agreement

August 3rd, 2010 by Susan Kraemer

A historic agreement has been signed by a consortium of appliance manufacturers and environmental groups that will keep 550 million metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere over 30 years by setting new Federal minimum standards that raise energy efficiency increases nationwide in a range of consumer appliances by 2014.

The recommended standards and tax credits will save the US more than 9 quads of energy over 30 years, or roughly enough to meet the total energy needs of 40 percent of American homes for one year, according to a DOE analysis.

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The new minimum standards they agreed to mean that all refrigerators will reduce current energy use by at least 20%, clothes washers by 40%, air conditioners by at least 10%, dishwashers by 14% and clothes dryers by 5% over the next 4 years.

Many of the new minimum standards are based on levels of efficiency that previously earned federal tax credits for at that time advanced levels of efficiency, illustrating how tax credits that bring down the cost of innovative technology can contribute towards transforming markets towards higher efficiency products.

The agreement is between the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy and the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers and was brokered by a wide variety of major environmental interests ranging from the NRDC to Earthjustice, and from the California Energy Commission to the Alliance to Save Energy.

By cementing a preliminary agreement between environmental organizations and appliance manufacturers first, Senate obstruction of clean energy legislation is more easily bypassed.

“Consensus agreements such as this generally attract bipartisan support. I look forward to working with my colleagues to see if these standards can be incorporated into legislation,” notes Senator Jeff Bingaman, Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

Because so many of the major subjects of this proposed legislation (including Whirpool and GE) have already agreed to jointly abide by changes that reduce their carbon emissions on an industry-wide basis, there will hardly be a reason for the GOP to filibuster action on these provisions.

So we won’t expect hysterical Tea Party protests ranting against efficient fridges to be all over the corporate media this summer.

Image: Gay Patriot

Source: AHAM

Susan Kraemer@Twitter

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Tags: agreement, Appliance, environmental, Historic, manufacturers, Organizations, Sign

About the Author

Susan Kraemer writes at CleanTechnica, CSP-Today, PV-Insider , SmartGridUpdate, and GreenProphet. She has also been published at Ecoseed, NRDC OnEarth, MatterNetwork, Celsius, EnergyNow, and Scientific American. As a former serial entrepreneur in product design, Susan brings an innovator's perspective on inventing a carbon-constrained civilization: If necessity is the mother of invention, solving climate change is the mother of all necessities! As a lover of history and sci-fi, she enjoys chronicling the strange future we are creating in these interesting times. Follow Susan on Twitter @dotcommodity.

http://diesel-pressure-washer.com Tim Tracy

I appreciate the info. This will be very useful for anybody looking for advice on pressure washing.
http://www.rfquotations.com Manufacturers

Wow that was one of the amazing they can do for the benefits of our environment and to prevent the climate change.
Alex

i saw someone with that same obama acronym sticker on his t-shirt at a phillies game and i told him i was disappointed in this country because of people just like him haha
Charles Vismeg

@Jon_K

I am with you guy, I understand Susan whom I greatly admire, but the first thing looking at the image, forgetting the subject momentarily; I was shocked by the bumperstickers, golly gee, Tea Party slogans! Rush and Hannity will not be swayed.

Just show some new tech fridge, LED backlit TV.

I love and follow your postings Susan and Zac.
Jon_K

Why the Tea Party Refrigerator? Here’s my favorite Tea Party Bumper sticker: Honk If My Taxes Support Your Whiny Tea Bagging Ass
- http://cleantechnica.com/author/susan Susan Kraemer
  
  The story is about legislation producing more efficient fridges, to reduce carbon dioxide levels that cause climate change that will bury Miami and Washington DC and NYC within the next few centuries. Since the Tea Party is against legislating all other reductions in fossil energy use, or even admitting that the science is clear on what we are doing, I was envisioning them objecting to more efficient fridges too.
  
  But the fridge lobby clearly is not telling them to fight change like the oil and coal lobby does. So we won’t hear Rush and Hannity spewing their demonization of efficient fridges.