EU Endorses Proposal to Reduce Standby Electricity Consumption
July 10, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
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On July 7, European Union (EU) member states endorsed a proposal by the European Commission (EC) for a regulation reducing standby energy consumption of household and office products.
The regulation lays down energy efficiency requirements for all products sold in Europe, thus cutting the EU's standby electricity consumption by almost 75% by 2020.
"This first measure under the Ecodesign Directive[1] will drastically reduce standby electricity consumption of household and office products. It is a concrete contribution to reach the EU's energy efficiency and climate protection targets, while saving citizens' money," said Andris Piebalgs, EC energy commissioner.
The standby regulation applies to all electric devices used in households and offices, such as TVs, computers and microwave ovens. Depending on the functionality of the product, it sets a maximum allowed power consumption for standby of either one or two watts for the year 2010.
As of 2013, the admissible power consumption level will be lowered to one-half or one watt, which is close to the levels that can be achieved with the best available technology.
The regulation will reduce today's standby electricity consumption in the EU - now about 50 terawatthours per year - by 73% by 2020. These savings are equal to Denmark's yearly electricity consumption and would lead to an annual savings of about 14 million tons of CO2 emissions. Further savings are expected in other parts of the world as well, since many of the targeted products are sold worldwide.
The staged approach allows manufacturers to adapt their products to the new requirements in time. The regulation builds on the results of an in-depth analysis of the technical, economic and environmental aspects of standby, which was carried out together with stakeholders and experts from around the world.
The standby regulation will now be studied by the European Parliament. It is scheduled for formal adoption by the EC within 2008. Eco-design measures on other product groups will follow in the coming months.
For more information, see the EU web site on energy efficiency and MEMO/08/488.
[1] Directive 2005/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of July 6, 2005 establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-using products and amending Council Directive 92/42/EEC and Directives 96/57/EC and 2000/55/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, Official Journal L 191, 22/07/2005, p. 0029-0050.
Source: European Commission.