The European Union (EU) has banned the most inefficient washing machines in a plan to save the equivalent of two power plants worth of electricity and cut 3.8 million tons in carbon-dioxide emissions annually by 2020.
The 27-member EU aims to reduce the emissions blamed for global warming by 20% from 1990 levels and will increase the efficiency of appliances, vehicles and buildings to help meet the target. With the new rules, washing machines would have to use 4.3% less energy annually by 2020 and save water or be outlawed, according to the German environmental agency Umwelt Bundes Amt (UBA).
The measure, one of a series by the commission that has also targeted such products as light bulbs, will commence in two stages “” the first in July 2010 and the second in 2013. Power consumption by washing machines has already declined 37% since 1992, UBA says.
Electrolux AB, the world’s second-largest appliance maker, has said it plans to cut energy use in its operations by 15% while promoting a “green range of products,” including more energy-efficient appliances.
The EU is also toughening the rules governing consumer information on appliances so potential buyers can more easily identify the amount of energy a machine consumes.