Right decision from the European Commission. Focussing on less products helps saving energy and avoids excessive bureaucracy


Today the European Commission held a fundamental discussion about the regulation of the energy consumption of different electronic devices. They declared the European Union will focus on products with large energy saving potentials and whose regulations won’t be restrictive for the consumer. Strongly criticized ideas, such as the regulation of the energy consumption of toasters, coffee machines (and showerheads as well as water taps), are ultimately set off the agenda.

 

Thereby the commission followed the proposals from the biggest group in the European Parliament (Christ-democrats, EPP). “Standards leading to an increase of the energy consumption are useful, but in order to avoid the consumer feeling restricted, the EU must not lose itself in trivialities”, stated Dr. Peter Liese, environmental policy spokesman of the EPP-Group in the European Parliament.
Electro motors are a good example for the regulation of products that is going to be continued. As a first step, the efficiency of motors that are e.g. used by the industry improved significantly. This lead to power savings of approximately 135 TWh per year which corresponds nearly to the annual power consumption of Sweden or the production of 17 nuclear power plants.

“In many fields, the Ecodesign regulation contributes to make sense for saving energy without the loss of comfort for the consumer. This has to go on but excesses need to be avoided” concluded Liese.