Whirpool to Make all "Smart" Appliances by 2015

Today Whirlpool announced that all of its appliances will be able to respond to smart grid signals by 2015. Customers on a real time pricing program can instantly see the benefit for a more integrated household system. Instead of eking out the lowest priced hour yourself, your appliances will be able to do that automatically.

Whirlpool also indicated some of the hurdles and logistical roadblocks that will need to be navigated before this will be possible. Bracken Darrell, president of Whirlpool Europe, and executive vice president of Whirlpool Corporation found two key public-private developments that needed to be addressed:

-- The development by the end of 2010 of an open, global standard for transmitting signals to and receiving signals from a home appliance

-- Appropriate policies that reward consumers, manufacturers and utilities for using and adding these new peak demand reduction capabilities.

This is why, according to Darrell, Whirpool is "going to invite the appliance industry, the utility industry, policymakers, NGOs, and relevant technology companies to come together at the upcoming Copenhagen climate change conference to discuss how we can accelerate the adoption of these new capabilities."

Now you just need all of those people to agree...