THE CHOICE OF WASHING MACHINES AND DISHWASHERS CAN SAVE BOTH
WATER AND ELECTRICITY

Washing machines and dishwashers can be a major element of household water
use. Through choosing efficient white goods, water and energy savings can easily be
achieved. Big improvements have been made in the water efficiency of domestic
appliances. This is often as a result of pressure to deliver energy efficiency. Many
appliances use electricity to heat water, so appliances that use less water are
therefore likely to use less energy.

WASHING MACHINES
Efficient washing machines use far less than the 1999 Water Regulations standards. A large number of popular brands supply washing machines that use less than 8 litres per kilogram (l/kg) of washing, a very significant reduction compared to the standard maximum limit of 48 l/kg.

The EU energy label gives efficiency information that retailers and manufacturers must display by law, on all new washing machines, and dishwashers. Washing machine labels provide water consumption as shown in in the chart to the left.

From a review of the different products available shown in Table 5, it appears that there are several products which use less water than 8 litres / kg of wash load. The list price of the devices given varies between £249 and £550.

DISHWASHERS
The water use efficiency of dishwashers has improved significantly, again principally for energy efficiency reasons. Dishwashers using less than 2 litres per place setting, as apposed to the 1999 Water Regulation limit of 4.5 litres per place setting are available from many popular manufacturers.

This has resulted in much lower consumption and dishwashers can now be more efficient than washing dishes by hand. A number of devices are available that use less than 1.2 litres / place setting.

The list price of these machines varies from £234 to £650.