Sustainability

Innovating for the next generation of consumers

Whirlpool Corporation is committed to responsibly leading the global home appliance industry — delivering superior value for our stakeholders while setting the standard for sustainability.

In 2013, Whirlpool brand launched the industry’s first full suite of smart appliances with 6th Sense Live technology, giving consumers the ability to send and receive signals to a smart electrical grid and automatically modify the energy consumption of their appliances.

Across our brand portfolio, we are bringing new, resource-friendly appliances to the market that are more efficient than their predecessors. For example, a new washer today is 77 percent more efficient than one from the year 2000. Consumers who replace their older models would save energy and money — $117 a year — making appliance replacement our biggest opportunity for future energy conservation.

We have been a longtime champion of voluntary industry standards that promote increased energy and water efficiency. And we are inviting consumers to join us in the journey to live a more resource-conscious lifestyle through programs like Amana Steps, which provides tips on small changes that can make a big impact on the environment.

At our facilities around the world, we are implementing processes to eliminate waste and drive ongoing operating efficiencies. We were the first appliance manufacturer to announce a greenhouse gas reduction target and achieve those goals, and we have established a new global goal of sending zero waste to landfills by 2022. Three of our manufacturing facilities in Brazil have already achieved this milestone, preventing hundreds of tons of waste from reaching landfills in 2013.

Our global training facility in Covert, Mich., received 2013 ENERGY STAR® building certification in recognition of superior energy performance. And we were awarded two Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certifications in 2013 — LEED Gold at our Cleveland, Tenn., premium cooking manufacturing facility and LEED Platinum at our North America Region headquarters in Benton Harbor, Mich., bringing our total number of LEED facilities to 10.

At Whirlpool, we are passionate about improving the quality of life of our consumers while minimizing our impact on the environment. And we are combining the power of innovation with our environmental commitment to create solutions that delight consumers — today and tomorrow.

Bauknecht GreenKitchen

Designed and developed in Europe, GreenKitchen started as a kitchen eco-system concept inspired by nature. The Bauknecht brand has brought the vision to life with the launch of a lineup of GreenKitchen appliances that take future home solutions out of the design studios and into the German market.

Until now, waste heat generated from cooling food in the refrigerator could not be reused. This is no longer the case with Bauknecht GreenKitchen products. In fact, the ability to save water and energy together is what distinguishes the combination of the Bauknecht GreenKitchen refrigerator and dishwasher. Waste heat from the refrigerator is used to preheat water in the dishwasher, thus consuming less energy. This process improves the energy efficiency of the already very efficient dishwasher by up to 10 percent. With this technology, even a six-liter dishwasher can achieve an energy consumption value of efficiency class A+++.