AHAM Announces Partnership With CSA Standards and UL Environment to Develop Sustainability Standard for Home Appliances

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) today announced that it has partnered with two leading standards organizations, CSA Standards and UL Environment, to jointly develop voluntary sustainability standards for home appliances. The new standards will take a life cycle approach and are intended to be used by governments, retailers, and other initiatives to identify environmentally responsible products.

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This effort is intended to provide an objective and practical measurement tool to assist the public in evaluating the sustainability of home appliances. "Manufacturers are committed to providing this solution to their customers," explained Joseph M. McGuire, president of AHAM. "This partnership provides the necessary expertise to produce credible sustainability standards for home appliances. A major element of appliance sustainability clearly is energy consumption. We will build on our expertise in the energy area but will also employ a life cycle approach to identify and measure other significant environmental aspects of appliances. UL and CSA Standards, leading North American standards development organizations for appliances, have the credibility and expertise for this initiative."

"CSA welcomes the opportunity to work with AHAM and UL Environment to help facilitate and support the development of product sustainability standards for home appliances," said Bonnie Rose, president, CSA Standards. "This cooperative process will help advance the scientific foundation for evaluating the sustainability performance of consumer products across their life cycle and help consumers make informed purchasing decisions."

"UL Environment is thrilled to work with AHAM and CSA to develop new environmental standards for home appliances.  UL's hundred and sixteen years of experience building safety standards, combined with UL Environment's expertise in sustainability, will provide practical insight to improve both products and manufacturing processes included in this collaborative effort," said Stephen Wenc, president of UL Environment, a wholly owned subsidiary of Underwriters Laboratories.  

Five Winds International, an internationally recognized sustainability consulting firm, has been selected as a project manager for the AHAM project.  Five Winds brings thirteen years experience in developing and implementing sustainability strategy to improve the sustainability of companies and has been instrumental in helping to write international environmental standards.

As part of the standards development process, the group will engage a cross-section of stakeholders to ensure that the standard is both credible and compatible with existing government and retailer initiatives. "Our ultimate aim is to develop a metric that will instil consumer confidence," said McGuire.

About AHAM

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) is a not-for-profit trade association representing manufacturers of major, portable and floor care home appliances, and suppliers to the industry and is headquartered in Washington, DC.  AHAM is a standards development organization, accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and has authored numerous appliance performance testing standards used by manufacturers, consumer organizations and governmental bodies to rate and compare appliances. You can visit the AHAM web site at www.aham.org

About CSA Standards

CSA Standards is a leading standards-based solutions organization serving industry, government, consumers and other interested parties in North America and the global marketplace. Focusing on standards and codes development, application products, training, advisory and personnel certification services, the organization aims to enhance public safety, improve quality of life, preserve the environment and facilitate trade. CSA Standards is a division of CSA Group, also consisting of CSA International, which provides testing and certification services for electrical, mechanical, plumbing, gas and a variety of other products; and OnSpeX, a provider of consumer product evaluation, inspection and advisory services for retailers and manufacturers. For more information, visit www.csa.ca

About UL Environment, Inc.

UL Environment (ULE) supports the growth and development of sustainable products and services in the global marketplace through standards development and independent third-party assessment and certification. ULE is a wholly owned subsidiary of Underwriters Laboratories, a global leader in conformity assessment that has been testing products and writing standards for more than a century. ULE currently offers Environmental Claims Validation (ECV), a service testing and verifying manufacturers' self-declared environmental claims, Sustainable Products Certification (SPC), a service testing and certifying products to accepted industry standards for environmental sustainability and Energy Efficiency Certification (EEC), a service testing and verifying product compliance with mandatory and voluntary energy efficiency regulations and programs. ULE is developing additional environmental standards, as well as training and advisory services to support organizations in the sustainable products and services industry. For more information, visit www.ulenvironment.com

SOURCE Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers