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Energy Consumption of Major Household Appliances Shipped in Canada, Summary Report – Trends for 1990–2007

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Chapter 3 / Dishwashers

The shipment-weighted average annual unit energy consumption (UEC) of dishwashers in 2007 was 354 kilowatt hours (kWh), compared with 1026 kWh in 1990. Over 76 percent of the standard models on the market in 2007 – that is, those with an exterior width of more than 56 centimetres – qualified as ENERGY STAR® products, exceeding the minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) by at least 25 percent.

Table 5 illustrates that in 1990, dishwashers consuming more than 700 kWh annually represented 99.8 percent of the market. By 1999, these inefficient models were no longer produced, and by 2007, 94.2 percent of all dishwashers consumed less than 400 kWh.8

Table 5 Distribution of Dishwashers by Average Annual Unit Energy Consumption

Model
Year
kWh/yr
<300 300–349.9 350–399.9 400–499.9 500–599.9 600–699.9 ≥700
  (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
1990 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 99.8
1991 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.8 94.2
1992 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 8.5 91.5
1993 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 7.7 91.9
1994 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.5 32.9 66.1
1995 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.9 0.9 63.7 34.2
1996 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.9 3.9 63.0 32.0
1997 0.0 0.0 0.4 1.1 20.5 56.9 21.2
1998 0.0 0.0 0.2 1.2 23.4 71.6 3.7
1999 0.0 0.0 0.2 1.4 24.9 73.6 0.0
2000 0.0 0.0 0.1 3.9 19.3 76.7 0.0
2001 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.5 23.9 70.6 0.0
2002 0.0 0.0 3.2 13.6 37.8 45.5 0.0
2003 0.0 0.0 9.1 33.6 36.5 20.7 0.0
2004 0.0 4.0 24.3 46.4 16.5 8.8 0.0
2005 0.0 19.6 55.5 15.5 6.4 3.0 0.0
2006 0.3 28.2 61.8 5.7 2.7 1.3 0.0
2007 2.6 48.9 42.7 5.0 0.6 0.3 0.0
Total
Change
+2.6 +48.9 +42.7 +5.0 +0.6 +0.1 -99.8

3.1 Energy Savings

Figure 6 shows how much energy dishwashers might have consumed annually between 1992 and 2007 without the decrease in average annual UEC (top line) and how much energy refrigerators actually consumed during those years (bottom line).

Annual Energy Savings for Dishwashers, 1992–2007.

On average, dishwashers consumed 0.6 petajoules (PJ) less per year than they would have without the contributing factors described in the Foreword. In 2007, dishwashers consumed approximately 1.32 PJ less than they would have without these factors. That amount is the equivalent of one year’s energy for approximately 11 800 households.

In 2007, cumulative energy savings for dishwashers reached 8.23 PJ (2.28 billion kWh). Dollar savings for dishwashers for the study period were estimated to be $217 million (calculated at 9.5 cents/kWh).

8 Since 2004, dishwashers have been rated to a new energy-consumption standard, reducing the annual energy consumption for all models. This standard reduced the amount of energy these appliances might consume each year. Previously, dishwashers were rated according to an average of 264 loads per year. However, new data indicate that Canadians have reduced dishwasher use, so the test average is now 215 loads per year. The new ratings take into account standby power consumption and continue to include the energy required to heat the water.

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