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GE Appliances Inks Historic Energy Efficiency Agreement for Next Generation Clothes

GE Appliances Inks Historic Energy Efficiency Agreement for Next Generation Clothes

Published 05-23-00

Submitted by General Electric Company

General Electric Appliances (GE)
President and CEO Larry Johnston will sign an historic energy efficiency and
water savings agreement in Washington, D.C. today with environmental groups,
energy efficiency advocates, utilities, and state governments and other
appliance manufacturers. The agreement commits the parties to seek U.S.
Department of Energy concurrence on a new clothes washer energy-efficiency
standard. GE's leadership role helped in the development of the agreement
that will set the clothes washer energy efficiency and water savings standards
for the appliance industry at least through 2012.
"We are pleased to have been a driving force in the negotiations that
resulted in the agreement," said Larry Johnston, president and CEO of GE
Appliances. "The consumer always wins when corporate America, the government
and special interest groups can voluntarily reach agreement on such an
important issue. It is GE's commitment to produce quality, energy compliant
appliances at affordable prices."
The agreement will significantly improve energy efficiency and water
consumption rates for clothes washers and create new DOE Energy Star levels
for clothes washers and refrigerators. The signers are proposing to the
Department of Energy a two-part energy standard for clothes washers in which
all units manufactured after 2004 will be required to achieve a 1.04 modified
energy factor (MEF). In 2007, products must meet a 1.26 MEF. The current
standard corresponds to an MEF of .817. The agreement would ensure that new
washers are at least 35 percent more efficient than required by today's
regulations.
Johnston said that GE did not wait for the DOE to finalize the agreement
before it offered environmentally friendly clothes washers. For the past two
years, GE Appliances has offered a front loading wash machine that meets the
standards that will not be required until 2007.
In addition, Johnston said that under the agreement, GE will provide water
usage information on clothes washers to The Association of Home Appliance
Manufacturers (AHAM) that will allow water usage by clothes washers to be
monitored and water consumption to be reduced. This program will begin in
2001.
GE was named three years in a row by Fortune magazine as America's most
admired company, and two years in a row by the Financial Times as the world's
most respected company. GE has been bringing good things to life for more
than a century, and sells products under the Monogram(R), Profile Performance
Series(TM), Profile(TM), GE, Hotpoint, and SmartWater(TM) brands. For more
information about GE Appliances, consumers can call the GE Answer Center(R) at
800.626.2000 or visit the web site at http://www.geappliances.com .

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General Electric Company

General Electric Company

GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified technology and financial services company. GE operates in more than 150 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. GE works on things that matter. Finding solutions in energy, health and home, transportation and finance. Building, powering, moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE's approach to corporate citizenship and to business are driven by a common understanding of the role we can play….the best people and the best technologies taking on the toughest global challenges.

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