Ford, Eaton, SunPower and Whirlpool team for electric energy initiative

USA: Ford Motor Co. announced a strategic collaboration that will demonstrate how a typical American family can significantly reduce their electricity bills and CO2 footprint by integrating home appliance technology with a plug-in vehicle to achieve an energy-efficient lifestyle.

The Ford-led MyEnergi Lifestyle collaboration – comprised of leaders in the home appliance, renewable energy and power management industries – includes Eaton, SunPower and Whirlpool.

Additional featured companies include semiconductor provider Infineon and Nest Labs, with its latest learning thermostat represented in the research and implementation phase of the collaboration.

Specifically, MyEnergi Lifestyle showcases how combining renewable energy generation with "time-flexible" loads optimizes energy consumption across a plug-in vehicle and home appliances.
Ford and its business associates worked with researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology to create a computer model that calculates the electricity usage of a typical single family in their home for one year and the associated savings with moving to an energy-efficient lifestyle.

The cumulative results predict a 60 percent reduction in energy costs and more than 9,000 kg of CO2 (55 percent reduction) saved from a single home. If every home in the U.S. were to implement these energy-saving technologies, it would be the equivalent of taking all the homes in California, New York and Texas off the power grid (32 million homes).

Additional results from the Georgia Tech computer model, including in-depth associate product savings, will be revealed at Ford's display during the 2013 International CES in Las Vegas, Jan. 8-12.

To create a real-world example of how attainable, affordable and convenient a sustainable lifestyle can be, MyEnergi Lifestyle collaborators also announce plans to award a typical American family with delivery and installation of energy-saving products from each company, along with other leading energy-efficient products. All contest and promotion details will be included in a separate announcement soon.