http://www.appliancemagazine.com/news.php Lastest news from appliancemagazine.com. Sat, 25 May 2013 09:17:21 -0500 The APPLIANCE NEWS FEED is a copyrighted publication of Dana Chase Publications, Inc. editor@appliance.com webmaster@appliance.com http://www.appliancemagazine.com/news.php?article=1676314 The first voluntary sustainability standard for home laundry appliances in the United States was released in May 2013. The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM), CSA Group, and UL (Underwriters Laboratories) released AHAM 7003- 2013/CSA SPE-7003-13/UL 7003, Sustainability Standard for Household Clothes Washers. This standard is the second in a family of product sustainability standards under development by AHAM, CSA Group, and UL, intended for use by manufacturers, governments, retailers, and others to identify environmentally preferable products. The standard is based on a lifecycle approach for identifying the environmental impacts of household clothes washers in six key areas: * materials * manufacturing and operations * energy and water consumption during use * end-of-life * consumables * innovation This standard is intended to serve as an objective, practical measurement tool to assist clothes washer manufacturers in evaluating the environmental sustainability of home appliances. The three organizations will now form consensus committees to move the standard through the U.S. and Canadian accredited standards process, following the requirements of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), respectively. Other major appliance standards are under development and are expected to be published in 2013 and 2014. "As with the previously published refrigeration standard, this residential clothes washer standard is a concrete example of the appliance industry's commitment to sustainability. It provides a uniform measurement for retailers and consumers to compare product sustainability," said AHAM President Joseph M. McGuire. "Throughout the supply chain, demand by consumers is growing for manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers, and importers to offer products with better environmental performance," said Bonnie Rose, president, Standards, CSA Group. "CSA Group is committed to developing standards for sustainability that help consumer product manufacturers enhance their ongoing environmental initiatives and help consumers make informed decisions about environmental products." "Consumers are concerned about the lifecycle-based environmental impacts of the products they buy and use in their living spaces. They want to know that their home appliances are not only safe for their families, but more sustainable," said Sara Greenstein, president of UL Environment, a business unit of UL. "We commend the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers for leading the initiative to develop this important standard. It will help differentiate greener home appliances in the marketplace and accommodate the demands of environmentally conscious consumers." Throughout the standards development process, a cross-section of stakeholders, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Environment Canada, The Sustainability Consortium, Consumer's Union, and retailers such as Sears, Best Buy, and Lowe's, and environmental groups including the Carbon Disclosure Project were engaged to ensure that the standard is credible and compatible with existing government and retailer initiatives. PE International and Five Winds Strategic Consulting also assisted with the project. Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.appliancemagazine.com/news.php?article=1676214 The annual ranking of the best restaurants in the world was published in London in late April 2013 by British magazine Restaurant, and included two Basque-region restaurants that are equipped with commercial appliances from Fagor Industrial. The Top Ten ranking included three restaurants in Spain. The two establishments in the Basque region of Spain were equipped with Fagor equipment. Restaurante Arzak, operated by Juan Mari Arzak, was named to the No. 8 spot on the restaurant magazine list. Mugaritz, operated by Andoni Luis Aduriz, was in the No. 4 position on the list. A third Spanish restaurant earned the top spot on the list. The Catalan establishment Celler Can Roca was named the best restaurant in the world, supplanting the Danish restaurant, Noma. Fagor Industrial S.Coop. is one of the Fagor Group companies, which also includes home appliance maker Fagor Electrodomesticos and HVAC equipment maker Fagor Heating Systems & Boilers. All the Fagor companies are part of Spanish cooperative Mondragon Corporacion Cooperativa, (MCC). Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.appliancemagazine.com/news.php?article=1676014 The new Carrier WeatherExpert 10-ton unit exceeds the parameters of the recent Department of Energy (DOE) Rooftop Unit (RTU) Challenge, providing an Integrated Energy Efficiency Ratio (IEER) of 20.8. The unit is more than 15% more efficient than the required minimum of 18.0 IEER. Carrier is a global producer of heating, air-conditioning, and refrigeration solutions and is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp. The DOE created the RTU Challenge to help spur the market introduction of cost-effective, high-performance commercial rooftop air-conditioners. The Challenge calls for manufacturers to develop a 10-ton unit that meets the 18.0 IEER specifications by April 1 2013. The DOE focused on rooftop units that are used in nearly half of all commercial cooling systems in the United States. Carrier said that, if all the 10-ton units currently sold nationwide were built using the new 18.0 IEER criteria, businesses would reduce energy use by half, compared to current equipment, saving about $40 million annually in energy costs. Carrier committed to the energy savings initiative more broadly, with its entire line of WeatherExpert models, from 3- to 23-ton units, reaching a high-IEER rating of 21.0. This makes WeatherExpert one of the most efficient packaged rooftop unit lines available. Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.appliancemagazine.com/news.php?article=1675614 April 2013 sales of existing-home in the United States were up, but low inventory and tight credit kept sales less than the underlying demand, according to the National Association of Realtors. Strong price gains, compared to one year ago, continue to be seen in all regions of the United States. Total sales of existing home sales (including town homes and condos as well as single-family homes) were up 0.6% in April 2013, to reach a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.97 million. That was up from March 2013's upwardly revised level of 4.94 million. The April level is up 9.7% from 4.53 million in April 2012. Existing homes are selling at their fastest pace since November 2009, when the federal home buyer tax credit caused sales in the United States to jump to 5.44 million. "The robust housing market recovery is occurring in spite of tight access to credit and limited inventory. Without these frictions, existing-home sales easily would be well above the 5-million unit pace," said NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. "Buyer traffic is 31% stronger than a year ago, but sales are running only about 10% higher. It's become quite clear that the only way to tame price growth to a manageable, healthy pace is higher levels of new home construction." "With homes selling in half the time it took to sell a year ago, buyers must be both decisive and prudent," said NAR President Gary Thomas, the broker-owner of Evergreen Realty in Villa Park, CA. Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500 http://www.appliancemagazine.com/news.php?article=1675714 Mitsubishi Electric Corp. will integrate Echelon Corp.'s Open Smart Grid Protocol (OSGP) into its line of smart meter products, which are designed for international markets. Mitsubishi is a Tokyo-based conglomerate that produces home appliances and is active in a number of other industries. Mitsubishi Electric's new smart meters will incorporate grid-sensing and communication technologies based on Echelon's OGSP and its Networked Energy Services (NES) software as well as Mitsubishi Electric's proprietary sensing and metering technologies. The products will be manufactured at Mitsubishi Electric Automation (Thailand) Co., Ltd. in Bangkok and at PT. MELCOINDA in Bogor, Indonesia, both international subsidiaries of Mitsubishi Electric. The new meter was exhibited at Metering, Billing/CRM Asia 2013, held in Bangkok May 22 and May 23, 2013. Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500