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GE's Earth Day Challenge: Choose ENERGY STAR(R) Products and Eco-friendly Alternatives to Discarding Old Appliances

GE's Earth Day Challenge: Choose ENERGY STAR(R) Products and Eco-friendly Alternatives to Discarding Old Appliances

Published 03-02-06

Submitted by GE Consumer & Industrial

LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 2, 2006--This Earth Day, GE Consumer & Industrial, a 2006 ENERGY STAR Sustained Excellence Award winner, challenges consumers to choose ENERGY STAR appliance and lighting products when planning their next home improvement project. According to the U.S. Government, using ENERGY STAR appliances can save consumers one-third on their annual energy bill - up to $450, on average.

From 2000 to 2005, 62 million ENERGY STAR appliances were sold, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). To date, these appliances have yielded tremendous savings - $3.2 billion in consumer savings and 566 billion gallons of water.

ENERGY STAR in the home

The easiest change to make is in home lighting. According to ENERGY STAR, if every American home swapped five high-use light fixtures for ENERGY STAR qualified Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs), each family would save more than $60 per year. These lamps use up to 75% less energy and last up to 10 times longer - which also means less climbing up on that ladder to change burned-out bulbs.

Clothes washers and dryers account for up to 10% of consumers' energy bills, according to ENERGY STAR. Compared to a model manufactured before 1994, an ENERGY STAR qualified clothes washer can save consumers up to $110 per year in utility bills. The new GE(R) frontload washer will actually pay for itself in water and energy cost savings over the course of its life.

In most households, the refrigerator uses more energy than any other kitchen appliance. According to ENERGY STAR, replacing a refrigerator bought in 1990 with a new ENERGY STAR qualified model would save enough energy to light the average household for more than four and a half months.

Replacing a dishwasher manufactured before 1994 with an ENERGY STAR-qualified dishwasher can also save consumers money - up to $25 or more per year in energy costs, according to the DOE. All GE Profile(TM) dishwashers have earned the ENERGY STAR label and could save more than 20 billion gallons of water annually if used by all Americans.

What to do with old appliances

It's not enough just to replace old appliances with ENERGY STAR qualified products; consumers should also think about the most eco-friendly way to remove old appliances from their home. One option is donating the appliance to a local charity.

If an appliance is not working properly, it's best to recycle. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 95% of most refrigerators can be recycled.

Check under "recycling" or "scrap metal" in the phone book for a local recycling business. If you call around, you might even find a company that will pay you for the recycled steel.

If you have an older refrigerator, it might contain CFC's(Chlorofluorocarbons, also known as Freon). If this is the case, you are required by law call a qualified service provider to drain the CFCs before disposing of, or recycling, the refrigerator.

GE's commitment to ENERGY STAR

From 2002-2005, GE invested more than $350 million to develop and bring to market high-efficiency appliances.

For GE's long-term commitment to creating high-performance household appliance and lighting products that help reduce energy consumption and do the right thing for the environment, the DOE and EPA awarded GE Consumer & Industrial a Sustained Excellence Award. GE has also been recognized as an ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year for three consecutive years.

GE Consumer & Industrial spans the globe as an industry leader in major appliance, lighting and integrated industrial equipment, systems and services. Providing solutions for commercial, industrial and residential use in more than 100 countries, GE Consumer & Industrial uses innovative technologies and "ecomagination," a GE initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that help customers and consumers meet pressing environmental challenges, to deliver comfort, convenience and electrical protection and control. General Electric (NYSE: GE) brings imagination to work, selling products under the Monogram(R), Profile(TM) GE(R), Hotpoint(R), SmartWater(TM), Reveal(R) and GE Edison(TM) consumer brands, and Entellisys(TM) industrial brand. For more information, consumers may visit www.ge.com.

For high-res, downloadable photography, visit
http://www.geconsindpressroom.com

GE Consumer & Industrial

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