Pierre....
...certainly, it MAY happen. But what we tend to forget is that different countries approach the achievement of energy and/or water efficiency goals in different ways.
This is being very general, and please correct me if I am wide of the mark, but:
<ul>
<li>in the USA, government has mandated the changes and effectively forced, through a combination of incentives (I nearly put 'industrial bribes' there) to manufacturers to build efficient machines. Some local authorities offer the consumer incentives when you buy efficient appliances. Basically, government is effectively forcing the American people to buy a particular way by encouraging manufacturers to only offer efficient machines in order to get their incentives. </li>
<li>in the UK and Europe, the public appear to have a grasp of efficiency. Electricity and gas are not 'cheap' compared to the USA. Having lived in the UK for 3 years, I don't remember any incentive scheme that financially encouraged people to buy efficient appliances - most washers already were given 95% or more that are sold in the UK are front load with internal heaters. Costs are going down as water usage goes down - it costs less to heat 15 litres than 30 litres....simple maths</li>
<li>in Australia, a different tact was taken again. We left manufacturers to do their own thing and provided an incentive direct to the consumer to buy a water efficient appliance (or replace an inefficient toilet - mine were done for free!). Consumers purchasing habits have changed what is available in conjunction with well publicised water shortages. The majority of Australians already wash in 'tap cold' water.</li>
</ul>
So the deal is this:
<ul>
<li>Europe already use high efficiency machines and have done for years. They are getting more and more efficient with lower temperature detergents being made available to encourage a switch from 60c to 30-40c or lower.</li>
<li>Australians are moving from a culture of top load users to front load/high efficiency top load users. 20 years ago, 10% of machines sold were Front Load. Today, it is more than 50% front load. The majority already wash in cold water and our detergents are formulated for use in cold water as a result.</li>
</ul>
Basically Pierre, where I'm going is that governments in Europe and Australia don't need to force change on manufacturers, and therefore the population - the population is forcing that change of their own accord. We want access to high efficiency machines that offer cold water options and local governments (in Australia) are providing the incentives direct to the consumer to change.
So your scenario, whilst relevant in the USA, is unlikely to be the case elsewhere.
