Our dens and offices are filled with hip tech, but our kitchens and utility rooms lag far behind those in Europe. For one thing, with strict EU energy efficiency standards, they are all about power and water savings. Here are examples of Europe's appliance superiority from last week's IFA in Berlin.
Did you put too much detergent in the washer, again? This Siemens system measures the load and applies the exact amount of detergent necessary. Just fill the reservoir with detergent and forget it for around 20 washing cycles. As a result, you save around 7,000 liters of water – that's more than 1,800 gallons – a year. The dryer is 60 percent more energy efficient than the most stringent European standards, which are pretty stingent. Finally, both appliances turn off automatically at the end of each program, eliminating standby electricity consumption.