The European Commission on Friday 14 April adopted new rules to reduce the power consumption of electrical appliances such as washing machines, televisions and portable games consoles when in ‘standby’ mode in order to save energy.
The latest update of the Ecodesign Regulation for electrical and electronic equipment on standby and off mode power consumption in 2008 was in 2013. The new amendments to the text include products with an external low voltage power supply, such as small network equipment, like wifi routers and modems or wireless speakers.
By requiring a reduction in the electricity consumption of these products when in standby mode, the Commission says that annual energy savings of 4 TWh could be achieved by 2030.
“Thanks to the revised rules, information on standby, off mode and networked standby power consumption as well as on the time needed for the product to reach automatically one of these modes will be more easily accessible to consumers”, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy said in a statement.
The new regulation has yet to be published in the Official Journal of the EU. It will come into force 20 days after publication, and manufacturers have a two-year transition period. Some final rules will apply after 4 years.
To see the rules: https://aeur.eu/f/6c5 (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)