When was the last time you considered what’s actually inside the appliances that make life so convenient? How were they made? What’s their environmental impact? There’s no point wiping out the gains from switching to vegan dinners if you have a wastefully inefficient fridge freezer storing all the ingredients—and the same goes for the rest of your house: If you’re buying investment pieces for your wardrobe, you’ll need a washing machine that can protect them long term.
In the winter of 2022/23, energy efficiency has never been so important, with households and businesses cutting back usage and exploring every opportunity to reduce sky-high bills. A smart move would be to check in on the efficiency of your home. Chances are, your washing machine or refrigerator isn’t as energy efficient as you think—when new energy labels came into force in 2021 across the UK and Europe, many products were downgraded from A++-style ratings down to a rather more worrying E or F on the revised A-G rating system. It’s designed to make things simpler to understand than the old “you get an A, and you get an A” system, as well as helping the rating system catch up to the constantly improving technologies themselves.
Take LG’s InstaView™ Door-in-Door™ Refrigerator. Many of its features have been designed with energy saving in mind. The InstaView’s black-tinted glass (which lets you see inside with two knocks), and the Door-in-Door’s easy access compartment allows you to see and grab drinks and snacks without letting room-temperature air into the refrigerator, or letting out cold air from inside the refrigerator. And its DoorCooling+ air vents on the front of the fridge keep the temperature inside nice and even, so your fruit and veg stays fresher for longer.
The real business, though, is taken care of by the Inverter Linear Compressor inside. Its linear piston drive has fewer friction points than the conventional reciprocating drive you'll find in other fridges, which means it can shift temperatures precisely and quickly. Food is also kept fresher for longer, as there are fewer temperature fluctuations. This clever system saves on energy by up to 32 percent with less wear and tear over time, hence the 10-year warranty on its compressor.
You’ll find it in LG’s refrigerator line-ups—including bottom freezers, InstaView Door-in-Door refrigerators, and so on. The DUAL Inverter Compressor™ in LG’s air conditioners goes even further: By using a dual rotary compressor design, two rotary compressors are operated with a phase difference of 180° in their mutual compression timing, which results in much more stable operation. This not only improves the rotational balance but also bolsters the compression torque making it possible for the compressor to operate from just 10 Hz to a peak frequency of 120 Hz. The result is 40 percent faster cooling—which is nice to have—but the headline here is that the DUAL Inverter Compressor ACs can save up to 70 percent on electricity usage when compared to conventional compressor AC units.
“We are confident of achieving the highest quality in the three key elements of home appliances: Performance, energy efficiency, and reliability,” says Jae-cheol Lyu, president of LG Electronics Home Appliance & Air Solution Company. “As a company that takes its responsibility to protect the environment very seriously, it is our mission and fate to make quality products with performance as well as eco-friendly traits. We will continue to develop appliances and technologies that are better for the planet, achieving a more sustainable future.”
LG’s TurboWash™ 360 washing machines, meanwhile, employs technology such as 3D multi-nozzles, which shoot jets of water from four different directions, to save 28 percent of energy versus regular machines, and slash the cycle time by 38 percent to boot.
It’s not just the power behind the wash, though, but the wash itself that LG is interested in. Its annual #CareForWhatYouWear campaign, which encourages people to cherish their clothing and wear pieces longer, is more than just talk. LG’s Inverter tech makes another appearance in the form of the AI DirectDrive motor in its washing machines, which ditches the belt and pulley system and works with AI tech to tweak settings based on the volume of what’s in the drum and the softness of the clothes themselves. The idea is that it actually extends the lifespan of your clothing, with around 18 percent more protection.
Elsewhere, the DUAL Inverter Heat Pump Dryers use low temperatures and a wider range of circulation speeds to further protect your garments. The swanky LG Styler dry cleaning closet combines the Inverter Heat Pump’s low temperature drying system with its pure boiling water-powered TrueSteam™ tech.
Technologies such as LG’s DUAL Inverter Compressor, AI DirectDrive motor, and DUAL Inverter Heat Pump Dryers are not simply innovation for innovation’s sake. The energy efficiency of products, such as InstaView refrigerators and TurboWash 360 washing machines, is one of the key ways LG is trying to reduce its carbon emissions by 50 percent by the end of 2030. If you’re keen on calculating your own carbon footprint, these kinds of efficiencies in the home may become more important as you move beyond the easy day-to-day wins. Well worth considering next time you’re stocking your wheezy old fridge with oat milk and banana crisps.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
