Modern appliances could reduce UK’s Carbon emissions by 2.6 million tons.
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If every household in UK replaced refrigerators, freezers, washing machines and dishwashers made ten or more years ago, 2.6 million metric tons of CO2 would be saved annually. That’s the equivalent of every household in the country driving a car 634 kilometres. Financial benefits are also to be seen, with an average household saving as much as £36 every year on energy payments. By introducing tax incentives that encourage consumers to replace old appliances with new, energy-efficient products, policy makers can act as a catalyst for environmental and financial savings.
These potential reductions are presented at www.electrolux.com/ecosavings. Here you can calculate comparative water use, electricity consumption and carbon emissions from cities across Europe and see what difference can be achieved by changing to using modern appliances.
Savings calculations for the following cities can be found on this web site: Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Coventry, Derby, Dudley, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kingston upon Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, London, Luton, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Sheffield, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton,
“In the life cycle of an appliance, the use phase has the greatest environmental impact. On average, today’s appliances consume 70 percent less energy than their 15-year-old counterparts. Thus, it is ecologically responsible to buy a new appliance instead of sticking to an older inefficient one”, says Henrik Sundström, VP Group Sustainability Affairs, Electrolux AB
Incentives for upgrading appliances exist or have recently been introduced in Italy, Spain, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria and Denmark. In February the US President Barack Obama, as part of the stimulus bill, approved $300 million to fund a consumer rebate program for the purchase of energy efficient appliances.
These programs have a proven ability in creating environmental awareness and encouraging consumers to actively seek products with greener credentials. In Italy consumers receive a tax credit of up to € 200 when buying energy-efficient refrigerators and freezers. Sales of such products have more than doubled since this rebate was introduced in 2007. The Netherlands, one of the first countries to introduce such incentives a decade ago, today has the second lowest amount of 10-year-old appliances within the EU. A study from the consultancy firm McKinsey found that the replacement of old appliances is one of the most efficient global measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“The ecosavings website shows that replacing older appliances with newer energy efficient models can play a vital role in environmental sustainability. It’s a win-win situation for the household ECOnomy and the global ECOlogy. The appliance industry has made great strides toward reducing energy and water consumption in household appliances. Now it is time for policy makers to do their part”, Sundström concludes.
In an average UK household, the replacement of old appliances with newer energy efficient versions would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 356 kg. Annual savings of up £36 in electricity costs could also be achieved. Energy consumption would be reduced by about 405 kWh and water use by 3500 cubic meters.
On a European level, 20 TWh of electric energy would be saved each year. By this, CO2 emissions could be cut with as much as 18 million tons/year, contributing to 6 % of the target within the Kyoto protocol.
Electrolux Watersavings Web Site – also launched:
Electrolux has also recently launched www.electrolux.com/watersavings, a site where you can see how much water your household, city and country could save by using a modern dishwasher instead of doing the dishes by hand.
For example, 16 billion litres of fresh water could be saved in London if all households used a dishwasher instead of washing dishes by hand.
This means a household in UK could save over 7000 litres annually by using an efficient dishwasher.
Photos at Flickr
