Sustainability moves ahead in home appliances

Eco lovers, rejoice! There is a new sustainability standard for household appliances.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, CSA Group and UL Environment have announced the release of AHAM 7001-2012/CSA SPE- 7001-12/UL 7001, Sustainability Standard for Household Refrigeration Appliances, the first voluntary sustainability standard for home appliances. This new standard is the first in a family of product sustainability standards under development.

The standard is based on a lifecycle approach for identifying the environmental impacts of refrigeration products in five key areas: energy, materials, end-of-life, performance and manufacturing.

This standard will help refrigeration manufacturers evaluate the environmental sustainability of home appliances. The three organizations will next form consensus committees to move the standard through the United States and Canadian accredited standards process.

“The AHAM-CSA-UL collaboration represents vast experience in appliance design, manufacture and use, standards development and product lifecycle analysis. Coupled with the critical stakeholder input, we believe this standard and others that will follow represent a strong commitment to sustainability and provide workable tools for appliance purchasers to compare the environmental attributes of appliances,” explained Joseph McGuire, president of the AHAM.

And here’s some extra good news: UL Environment just announced that Whirlpool has become the first company to achieve certification of its products to the Sustainability Standard for Household Refrigeration Appliances. The first products to receive certification are the company’s French Door-style, bottom-mount household refrigerators. The following Whirlpool refrigerator models have achieved certification:

2-door models:
GB9FHDXV
GB9FHDXW
GB2FHDXW
MBF2258WE
MBF2258XE
MBF1958XE
MBL2258XE
MBR2258XE

3-door models:
GI6FDRXX
GI6SDRXX
MFI2670XE

4-door models:
KFXL25RY
KFXL25RYMS
KFXS25RY
KFXS25RYMS