Residential Clothes Washers | Regional Technical Forum Regional Technical Forum

The RTF is a technical advisory committee to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council established in 1999 to develop standards to verify and evaluate energy efficiency savings

Header Menu nwcouncil.org Contact

Search form

primary-menu Calendar Work products UES Measures list Standard protocols list Supporting documents Propose a measure or standard protocol Proposed measures and status Whole Building Efforts Subcommittees Subcommittees Agricultural Irrigation Air Source Heat Pumps C&I Fans Subcommittee Climate Zone Subcommittee Clothes Washer and Dryer Connected Thermostats Demand Response Ductless Heat Pumps Guidelines Heat Pump Water Heaters Implementers Group Market Analysis Natural Gas Subcommittee New Homes Standard Protocol Non-Residential Lighting Operations Pump Systems Research and Evaluation Residential Behavior Residential Lighting RTF Policy Advisory Committee Secondary Glazing Systems SEEM Calibration and Measure Interaction Small and Rural Utilities Statistical Methods Whole Building Subcommittee Site menu Site menu Search Home Residential Clothes WashersClose Navigation Home Calendar News & updates Decisions Guidelines About the RTF RTF Membership – 2019-2021 Work plan and budget Request for proposals Charter and bylaws Conflict of interest policy RTF Policy Advisory Committee Contacts Conservation achievements Work products UES Measures list Standard protocols list Supporting documents Propose a measure or standard protocol Proposed measures and status Whole Building Efforts Subcommittees Agricultural Irrigation Air Source Heat Pumps C&I Fans Subcommittee Climate Zone Subcommittee Clothes Washer and Dryer Connected Thermostats Demand Response Ductless Heat Pumps Guidelines Heat Pump Water Heaters Implementers Group Market Analysis Natural Gas Subcommittee New Homes Standard Protocol Non-Residential Lighting Operations Pump Systems Research and Evaluation Residential Behavior Residential Lighting RTF Policy Advisory Committee Secondary Glazing Systems SEEM Calibration and Measure Interaction Small and Rural Utilities Statistical Methods Whole Building Subcommittee nwcouncil.org Contact Close Navigation Home Toggle Siblings Residential Clothes Washers UES MeasureResidential Clothes WashersAt a GlanceCategory  proven Status  active Fuel type  dual fuel Sector  residential Applications  appliances Sunset date Dec 31, 2025

Energy efficient residential clothes washers save energy relative to less efficient clothes washers by using less hot water to wash clothing and by leaving clothing drier, which results in less drying energy being used. Machine energy use and savings are relatively minor. The savings estimates use the federal performance metric to estimate hot water load and dryer load. 

NEEA recently undertook lab and market research on clothes washers with the partial aim to bolster RTF measure analysis. In light of this research, the RTF opted to remove top-load measure applications as they did not result in savings and collapse front-load washers into a single measure application because all previous applications were shown to have the same UEC and UEs. This work also allowed the RTF to shift the measure from planning to proven.

WorkbookLatest Version Residential Clothes Washers v7.1 Residential Clothes Washers v7.1 Post-QC workbook. Approved December 2020. Date Jan 19, 2021Version number  7.1 Past Versions

version	date	document
7.0	Dec 8, 2020	Residential Clothes Washers v7.0 Approved at the December 2020 RTF meeting. Currently undergoing QC.
6.1	Feb 5, 2018	Residential Clothes Washers v6.1 QC review complete.
6.0	Oct 30, 2017	ResClothesWashers_v6_0.xlsm Workbook version approved at the September 2017 RTF Meeting. Undergoing QC.
5.4	Dec 2, 2016	ResClothesWashersSF_v5_4.xlsm QC review complete.
5.3	Jun 29, 2016	ResClothesWashersSF_v5_3.xlsm Updated to 7th Plan assumptions and format. Currently unndergoing QC.
5.2	May 28, 2015	ResClothesWashersSF_v5_2.xlsm Delivery verification checklist added. Lookup Table Fixed.
5.1	May 20, 2015	ResClothesWashersSF_v5_1.xlsm QC review complete.
5.0	Apr 29, 2015	ResClothesWashersSF_v5_0.xlsm Currently undergoing QC.
4.7	Apr 17, 2015	ResClothesWashersSF_v4_7.xlsm QC review complete.
4.6	Feb 27, 2015	ResClothesWashersSF_v4.6.xlsm Currently Undergoing QC
4.3	Jan 12, 2015	ResClothesWashersSF_v4.3.xlsm QC Review Complete
4.2	Sep 25, 2014	ResClothesWashersSF_v4.2.xlsm Pending QC Review
4.0	Oct 17, 2013	ResClothesWashersSF_v4_0.xlsm QC review complete.
3.6	Oct 1, 2013	ResClothesWashersSF_v3_6.xlsm Updated to comply with guidelines. Currently undergoing QC
3.2	Dec 3, 2012	ResClothesWashersSF_v3_2.xlsm Corrected an error. Measure Table now shows all possible combinations of MEF 3.1 measures.
3.1	Nov 14, 2012	ResClothesWashersSF_v3_1.xlsm Updated per RTF-approved recommendation from small/rural subcommittee.
3.0	Oct 1, 2012	ResClothesWashersSF_v3.xlsm Workbook updated per recommendation memo.
2.1	Apr 17, 2012	ResClothesWashersSF_v2_1.xlsm Added Summary tab.
2.0	Sep 27, 2010	ResClothesWashersSF_FY10v2_0.xls Original savings workbook.

Supporting Documents Residential Clothes Washers SF Recommendations (4-17-12) Residential Clothes Washers SF Recommendations (4-17-12) Residential/Commercial Clothes Washers-Research Strategy Residential/Commercial Clothes Washers-Research Strategy DecisionsLatest decisionDecision detailsDecided December 8, 2020 RTF Meeting: December 8, 2020 Approved Measure Updates

Approve the Residential Clothes Washers UES measure update as presented:

For RMC use average per configurationFor Hot water use average per configurationChange the Category to “Proven”Keep the Status at “Active”Set the sunset date to December 31, 2025Decided September 10, 2020 RTF Meeting: September 9, 2020 Extend Sunset Date

Extend the sunset date for the following measures to December 2020:

Residential Clothes Washer UESResidential Clothes Dryer UESCommercial Clothes Washer UESDecided September 19, 2017 RTF Meeting: September 19, 2017 Approve Measure Updates

Approve the Residential Clothes Washers UES measure update and Research Strategy, effective February 1, 2018

Change the Category to “Planning”Keep the Status at “Active”Set the sunset date to September 30, 2020Decided May 12, 2015 RTF Meeting: May 12, 2015 Approve measure update

Adopt the delivery verification guidance, and related specification changes, as presented for the following UES measures:Single Family Existing HVAC measures; Residential Clothes Washers; Residential Clothes Dryers; New Construction ENERGY STAR WA; New Construction ENERGY STAR OR; Refrigerator/Freezer Decommissioning; School Weatherization; Grocery ECMs for Walk Ins; Industrial and Agricultural Green Motor Rewind; Grocery Door Gasket Replacements.

Decided April 14, 2015 RTF Meeting: April 14, 2015 Approve Measure Update

Approve the updates to the savings and cost of the Residential Clothes Washers UES measure as presented and:Limit use of “any” fuel type measure to programs that don’t use specific fuel type measures. Disregard laundry detergent savings as a non-energy benefit; Keep the Category at ‘Proven’;Keep the Status at ‘Active’;Set the sunset date to December 31, 2017.

Ongoing research on Current Practice baseline especially the mix of front and top loaders.

Decided February 18, 2015 RTF Meeting: February 18, 2015 Approve measure update

Approved the updates to the Residential Single Family Clothes Washer UES measure assuming an ENERGY STAR penetration of 54% and extend the sunset date to June 30, 2015.

Decided September 16, 2014 RTF Meeting: September 16, 2014 Approve measure update

Approve the updates to the Residential Single Family Clothes Washer UES measure as presented.

Decided September 17, 2013 RTF Meeting: September 17, 2013 Approve measure update

Approve the updates to the residential clothes washer UES measure; set the measure status to ‘Active’; change the sunset date to February 28, 2015; and add no additional efficiency tiers at this time, with the understanding that additional tiers may be added in the future.

Decided November 14, 2012 RTF Meeting: November 14, 2012 Approve measure update

Approve Residential Clothes Washers UES measure for "electric DHW / electric dryer" UES savings to be used in utility service territories without natural gas, without the verification of fuel type requirement.

Decided September 18, 2012 RTF Meeting: September 18, 2012 Approve measure update

The RTF decided to approve the Residential SF Clothes Washers UES measure to proven with active status with a sunset date of November 1, 2013.

Decided April 17, 2012 RTF Meeting: April 17, 2012 Change measure status to under review

Approve Residential Single Family Clothes Washers UES measure status to under review.

Decided August 3, 2010 RTF Meeting: August 3, 2010 Hold off on measure update

The RTF agreed not to change the baseline from 1.93 MEF for the Residential Clothes Washer measure

Decided June 29, 2010 RTF Meeting: June 29, 2010 Approve measure updates

The RTF adopted the proposal on methodology, baseline (1.93 MEF), and results (approve savings for residential clothes washers for 2.2 MEF and above).

Small/rural checklistLatest Version September 2017 Residential Clothes Washer Small/Rural Checklist September 2017 Residential Clothes Washer Small/Rural Checklist Checklist corresponds to changes approved at the September 2017 RTF meeting. Date Sep 19, 2017Past Versions

version	date	document
	Apr 24, 2015	ResClothesWasher_SRRUtilitiesUESDesignChecklist.xlsx
	Dec 12, 2013	ResClothesWashersSF_SRR_Checklist.xlsx

Archives ELCAP Conservation achievements An advisory committee of: Northwest Power & Conservation Council ©2021 Regional Technical Forum. All Rights Reserved.