This is from the Department of Energy website, dated May 16. It sounds bad. Water consumption on clothes washers will go down 35% -- that's right, thirty-five percent -- by 2015. Dishwashers will have water consumption reduced 20% starting in 2013.

All while maintaining performance, of course.

WASHINGTON – As part of the Obama Administration’s focus on taking sensible steps to save families money while also reducing energy consumption,  the Department of Energy today announced common-sense energy efficiency standards for residential clothes washers and dishwashers that will save consumers $20 billion in energy and water costs. The new standards for both clothes washers and dishwashers were informed by important feedback from manufacturers, consumer groups and environmental advocates, producing significant savings while retaining consumer choice. The clothes washers standard announced today will save households approximately $350 over the lifetime of the appliance, while offering consumers a variety of more efficient machine choices, and as a result of the standards for dishwashers, home dishwashers will use approximately 15 percent less energy and more than 20 percent less water, directly providing consumers with savings on monthly bills.

 

Today’s announcement is only the most recent in a series of common-sense efficiency standards made by the Obama Administration that have covered nearly 40 different products, and will together save consumers nearly $350 billion on their energy bills through 2030.

 

“Working with consumer, industry and environmental groups to develop common-sense energy-saving appliance standards is an important part of the Obama Administration’s all-of-the-above approach to American energy and the Energy Department’s efforts to reduce energy costs for consumers,” said Secretary Chu. “Collectively, these energy efficiency standards for everyday appliances have saved American families hundreds of billions of dollars and offered consumers more efficient, less costly appliances without sacrificing performance.”

 

“DOE’s implementation of these new standards reflects the consensus agreement reached by stakeholders. It will result in tremendous energy savings for the consumer while preserving product choice and minimizing manufacturer impact. The home appliance industry is proud of its long history of energy efficiency advancements benefiting consumers and applauds DOE for working with stakeholders to increase energy efficiency,” said Joseph McGuire, President of the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers. 

 

“Clothes washer and dishwasher energy efficiency has improved dramatically over the past two decades while also improving clothes washing performance and maintaining dish washing performance,” said Steve Nadel, Executive Director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.  “These improvements have been driven by a combination of manufacturer and utility efforts, Energy Star, federal tax incentives and minimum efficiency standards.  We support the new DOE minimum efficiency standards which will raise the floor, helping to spur further efficiency improvements.

 

The new standards – developed in partnership with companies like Whirlpool, General Electric and LG Electronics, industry advocates, national environmental organizations, consumer groups and other stakeholders – build on previous minimum energy efficiency requirements for clothes washers and dishwashers and go into effect starting in 2015 and 2013, respectively. 

 

Today, clothes washers and dishwashers account for approximately 3 percent of residential energy use and more than 20 percent of indoor water use in homes across the country.  The new standards for clothes washers will reduce the energy consumption of front-loading clothes washers by 15 percent and reduce water consumption by 35 percent, while top-loading washers will save 33 percent on energy and 19 percent on water use.

 

As companies look for ways to further boost the efficiency of their products,  companies will continue to undertake additional research and development, partner with entrepreneurs working on new efficiency technologies and invest in manufacturing innovations that will help drive better, more efficient appliances and broader job creation across the economy. For example, according to a 2011 trade report , standards laws signed by President Reagan and both Presidents Bush and DOE rulemakings generated approximately 340,000 jobs in 2010 alone.

 

The standards announced today are part of the Obama Administration’s broader all-of-the-above approach to American energy and the Department of Energy’s efforts to help families save money by saving energy.  Other energy and cost-saving standards adopted under the Obama Administration include:

• March 2009 - 14 consumer and commercial products with standards prescribed in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007), including dishwashers, general service incandescent lamps and residential clothes washers
• April 2009 - Microwaves, kitchen ranges and ovens
• July 2009 - General service fluorescent lamps and incandescent reflector lamps
• July 2009 - Commercial heating, air-conditioning and water-heating equipment
• August 2009 - Beverage vending machines
• December 2009 - Commercial clothes washers
• February 2010 - Small electric motors
• March 2010 - Residential water heaters, direct heating equipment and pool heaters
• April 2011 - Residential clothes dryers and room air conditioners
• June 2011 - Residential furnaces and residential central air conditioners and heat pumps
• September 2011 - Residential refrigerators, freezers, and refrigerator-freezers
• October 2011 - Fluorescent lamp ballasts
• November 2011 - Direct heating equipment
• May 2012 - Residential clothes washers
• May 2012 – Residential dishwashers

 

New Efficiency standards

They look very common sense to me and its long overdue, it will however make consumers take laundry more seriously as it will be more important to use the correct cycles and temperatures to get good results.

I guess that settles it. The only modern washers I'll purchase starting in 2015 are fully programmable commercial machines!

7. Performance Metric
DOE’s clothes washer test procedure provides a measure of representative energy and water use. It does not evaluate cleaning or rinsing performance or fabric care. AHAM, BSH, GE, and Whirlpool commented that DOE should add a performance measure, particularly because at the higher efficiency levels, clothes washers are reaching the limit where product performance and consumer satisfaction may not be economically reached.

Ding!

I think we've passed that point with dishwashers, if you skim over the high points of the dishwasher DOE Direct Final Rule the future doesn't look too bright for dishwashing...

It's baffling to me why there is this race to the bottom.  It's hardly the government alone, the manufacturers (P&G is mentioned numerous times as well)  are the driving force behind the engineering and design of these machines and appear from the text of the DOE reports to be materially involved in the formation of  and cooperation with the new standards.   Much space in the report is given to explaining the technological development and dark magic used to reach these standards by manufacturers who are agreeing that it can be done.   Cooler washing temps in both clothes and dish washing operations among other mechanical feats  - the LG spray washing & rinsing, more food filters in dishwashers, etc. are being utilized to reach these standards.   Particularly interesting is the incorporation of the washer-cleaning cycles into the energy and resource standards.  Mold, mildew and odors are an obvious problem that they've gone from denying to embracing and attempting to solve with splashy cleaning programs and chemicals. In energy and resource use calculations will include provisions for running the "recommended" washer cleaning cycle once each month.  I haven't reached the life-span section of clothes washers, but for dishwashers the average life-span is roughly 15 years.  Uh huh. 

Well, if the standards are already being met, maybe it won't be so bad.

Of course, it wouldn't be like the government to claim a lot of credit for something without good  reason, but there's a first time for everything!

I went to the Bosch USA appliance site and their new TOL series dishwasher (called 800 something-or-other) uses only 2.2 gallons of water for a normal cycle.  The machine lists for $1999.  Sound level of 39 decibels.  My LG is 45 decibels and it's really quiet! There's actually a very big audible difference between 39 and 45 decibels. That Bosch must be close to absolute silence.