BSH Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group, the world’s number three and Europe’s number one in the home appliances sector, received the “Innovation Prize for Climate and Environment” from Dr. Norbert Röttgen, German Federal Minister for the Environment, in Berlin, for promoting energy-efficient products.
BSH Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group received the first Innovation Prize for its zeolite® drying system for dishwashers, which considerably reduces the appliances’ energy consumption, and are currently available in the GCC region.
“Over the past 20 years we have halved the energy consumption of our dishwashers. The innovative zeolite® technology has made another enormous leap in efficiency possible. At just 0.83 kilowatt hours per cycle, the new appliances need 20 percent less electricity than the most energy-efficient dishwashers to date,” explained BSH Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group CEO Dr. Kurt-Ludwig Gutberlet commenting on the award.
The company doubled the sale of super efficient household appliances within one year. In 2009, the share of these appliances had already reached 15 percent of total sales in Europe and also a significant percentage in GCC.
“Sustainable growth is one of the key development strategies of governments across the Middle East region. By introducing a range of energy and water-use efficient products in the region, we are further partnering in the ‘Green Vision’ of the region,” added Mr. Martin Jaeger, Marketing Director of BSH Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group - UAE.
The award-winning dishwashers feature a special container of zeolite®, a mineral with the ability to store moisture and energy. It dries the dishes after the cleaning cycle by absorbing the moisture from the air in the dishwasher’s interior. During the next cleaning cycle, the zeolite® is heated up and the moisture released so that it is ready for the next drying cycle. Zeolite® speeds up the drying process, considerably reducing cycle times.
Mr. Henning Voss, Chief Executive Officer, BSH Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group - Middle East, Africa and East Asia, said: “BSH Bosch and Siemens Home Appliances Group strongly believes in the importance of offering environmentally friendly products that support the region’s long-term growth outlook. We constantly strive to produce products and find systems that are both environmentally friendly and energy efficient. We have also rolled out these products across the markets that we are present including the GCC.”
If all the dishwashers in use in households today that are over ten years old and use more than 1.3 kWh of electricity per cycle were to be replaced with highly efficient appliances featuring the zeolite® drying system, over 1.2 million tons of CO₂ - equivalent to the emissions of approximately 600,000 automobiles that drive around 15,000 kilometers a year.
It is the first time that zeolite® – until now only used in industry – is being used in a mass-produced household appliance. This world’s first from Bosch and Siemens, has now been awarded the “Innovation Prize for Climate and Environment” in the category “Product and service innovations for climate protection.”
The prize was jointly presented by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment and the Federation of German Industries (BDI).
A total of 145 applicants submitted their entries for a prize in one of the five categories. The high-ranking jury chaired by Prof. Klaus Töpfer, former director of the UN Environment Programme, based their decisions on a scientific innovation audit carried out by the Fraunhofer Institute. The jury also recommended that the zeolite® drying system be entered into the “European Business Awards for Sustainable Development” competition held by the EU Commission.
The “Innovation Prize for Climate and the Environment” (IKU) is intended to promote German innovations that make a contribution towards climate and/or environment protection and provide answers to one of the greatest challenges of today’s world. The winners of the IKU also receive 25,000 Euros, which BSH will pass on to the Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research (ZAE) to be used for research projects on improving energy efficiency. The zeolite® drying system was developed by BSH engineers together with experts from the ZAE.
