BENTON HARBOR ? Whirlpool Corporation said by 2015 it will make all electronically controlled appliances Smart Grid compatible, helping to reduce energy and the emission of greenhouse gases.
Bracken Darrell, president of Whirlpool Europe, and executive vice
president of Whirlpool Corporation, highlighted the company’s longstanding
leadership in energy and water efficiency, including the first announcement
by an appliance manufacturer of a global greenhouse gas emissions reduction
target at the Kyoto Protocol in 2003, and an expansion of the original
target at EE Global in 2007.
Darrell stressed the critical importance of a collaborative effort
among industry, government institutions, NGOs, utilities and other
stakeholders to drive truly meaningful energy conservation, before
announcing the company’s newest commitment.
“By 2015, Whirlpool Corporation will make all the electronically
controlled appliances it produces — everywhere in the world — capable of
receiving and responding to signals from smart grids,” said Darrell.
Darrell indicated that the company’s ability to successfully deliver on
this commitment in this timeframe was dependent on two important
public-private partnerships:
The development by the end of 2010 of an open, global standard for
transmitting signals to and receiving signals from a home appliance; and
Appropriate policies that reward consumers, manufacturers and utilities
for using and adding these new peak demand reduction capabilities.
“Whirlpool believes this bridging technology is so important that we
are going to invite the appliance industry, the utility industry,
policymakers, NGOs, and relevant technology companies to come together at
the upcoming Copenhagen climate change conference to discuss how we can
accelerate the adoption of these new capabilities,” said Darrell.
Whirlpool is the world’s leading manufacturer and marketer
of major home appliances, with annual sales of approximately $19 billion,
70,000 employees, and 68 manufacturing and technology research centers
around the world. The company markets Whirlpool, Maytag, KitchenAid,
Jenn-Air, Amana, Brastemp, Consul, Bauknecht and other major brand names to
consumers in nearly every country around the world.
For more information, click on WhirlpoolCorp.Com
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