My last column centered on sustainability because it was the theme of AHAM’s annual member meeting in late April. The column discussed how various entities and companies define sustainability. At the meeting, excellent speakers from Bissell, GE, Invensys Controls, and Whirlpool provided solid examples of how their companies address sustainability in products and processes.   

AHAM’s Board has directed that AHAM include a major focus on sustainability in the association’s strategic plan, which is going through an update this year. As I look back on the annual meeting, it strikes me that, as an industry, appliance manufacturers, their suppliers and trade partners have already made significant contributions to the environment and to consumers in an important subset of sustainability, energy efficiency.

Both John Kasberger of Lowe’s and Alan Epler of Wal-Mart spoke of the importance of energy efficiency to consumers and the role that Energy Star is playing in the market. AHAM can attest to that by pointing to the most recent energy efficiency and consumption trends in major home appliances. For example, since the year 2000, the shipment weighted average size of clothes washers, as measured in tub volume, increased by 8 percent while energy consumption per unit decreased by 63 percent. At the same time, the water consumed by the average size clothes washer decreased by almost 50 percent.

Another benefit of today’s super efficient clothes washers is that the spin speeds remove so much moisture from laundered clothes that the U.S. Department of Energy created a new modified energy factor to account for this moisture removal. Removing moisture during the spin cycle results in further energy and utility costs savings for clothes dryers that more quickly dry clothes.

This demonstrates two things. First, consumers who trade-in clothes washers purchased at the beginning of this decade will reap major energy, water, and utility savings by purchasing any unit on the market today. Second, they can realize even greater savings if an Energy Star unit is selected. And, as we all know, because of their relatively high metal content, retired and recycled clothes washers become the building blocks of new appliances, automobiles, and other durable goods.

The case with refrigerators is equally dramatic. The average size refrigerator shipped in 2000 was about 22 cu. ft. in size (adjusted volume). It consumed on average 704 kWh per year in electricity. In 2007, the average size unit was about the same, but the electricity consumption was 498 kWh per year, a reduction of nearly 30 percent in energy consumption. The average refrigerator sold today consumes less energy than a 60-watt light bulb.

In the case of dishwashers, the average energy consumption of products sold last year was 1.53 kWh per cycle compared to 2 kWh in 2000 or 2.67 kWh in 1990. That is a reduction in energy use of 24 percent and 43 percent, respectively. The energy efficiency improvements in dishwashers are due in part to the sensing technologies built into today’s units that can sense the amount of soil and adjust wash cycles accordingly.

Taken together, refrigerators, dishwashers, and clothes washers accounted for a 43 percent combined decrease in energy consumption since 2000. From a global climate change perspective, the energy savings realized in 2007 shipments of the three products would offset the CO2 emissions of more than 698 million gallons of gasoline consumed or the annual CO2 emissions from 1.3 coal-fired power plants.

An important element of an AHAM sustainability program will be to make sure the environmental benefits already being delivered by home appliances is understood by the public and by policymakers. Yes, there is more work to be done. As a matter of fact, proceedings are underway this year and next year to determine if further efficiency gains can be found in home appliances and, if so, which of them make economic sense for consumers. One thing that government agencies have learned in addressing energy efficiency is that consumer awareness and education, and the freedom of manufacturers and suppliers to innovate, has moved the needle in appliance efficiency much further than minimum efficiency standards alone could do.

AHAM members, whether original equipment manufacturers or their suppliers, bring much to the table for consumers looking to do something about the high cost of energy and the environment. AHAM members, working through the association, can leverage their tangible contributions to society by working to enlighten policy makers on how such everyday products can make a difference in addressing broad environmental issues such as global climate change and sustainability.