Brussels, 30/03/2009 (Agence Europe) - Meeting up on for their regulatory committee on eco-design, experts from the member states of the European Union expressed their support for a Commission proposal to reduce the electricity consumption of standalone and integrated circulators (small pumps mainly used for the circulation of water in heating applications in commercial and residential buildings and boiler-integrated circulators that form an integral part of a boiler). Most of the 140 million circulators in use today in Europe are running constantly independently of whether there is a need or not, except if turned off by the user when no heating is necessary. The Regulation on the table will forbid by 2013 the placing on the market of low and standard efficiency circulators and will allow only very high-efficiency 'intelligent' circulators by 2015 that only function when required and which are able to adjust their speed according to the need.
According to the Commission, the legislation will lead to annual use-phase electricity consumption savings (of about 23 TWh by 2020, corresponding to an annual reduction of 11 Mt of CO2 emissions). The Regulation is also expected to create 7,000 jobs and make electricity savings of €2.2 billion by 2020. The proposal will now be scrutinised by the European Parliament and the Council and it is scheduled for formal adoption by the Commission in July 2009. (E.H./trans/rh)