Energy efficiency through products lifecycle

BANGALORE, INDIA: The Energy using Products Directive, known as EuP, became law in the European Union on 11th August 2005 and was transposed by European Member States into national law by 11th August 2007. Specific Implementation Measures, or mini directives, will enter into force throughout 2008 and 2009.

The objective of the EuP Directive is to bring about improvements in energy efficiency throughout a products lifecycle, from the mining of the raw material through to recycling at end-of-life.

Its focus is on the design phase since it is considered that this is the determining stage affecting the resources used in a product.

Once fully implemented, the European Commission estimates that these Implementing Measures could reduce energy consumption in the European Union by around 10 percent.

The Directive does not apply to means of transport but, apart from this, the scope is deliberately broad covering, in principle, any product which when in use depends on, generates, transfers or measures energy (electricity, fossil fuel or renewable).

An Implementing Measure will set out “eco-design” requirements such as energy consumption targets, and the legislation will be consistent in all EU Member States.

Before a product category can be reviewed it must meet certain criteria to ensure there really is a need and, more importantly, a significant benefit of doing so.

Simplistically, the product must sell more than 200,000 units per year in the EU, have a significant environmental impact and therefore, present considerable potential for improvement.

There is also a requirement that any Implementing Measures should not have a negative impact on a product’s price or performance.

There are some 20 broad categories of product initially within scope and studies are on-going or even complete. These categories range from, for example, water heaters to personal computers to all forms of lighting, right through to refrigerators and freezers and set top boxes.

Energy consumption primary focus
It is clear that energy consumption, while in use, will be the primary focus of many of the Implementing Measures and these mini directives will have to be adhered to by the electronics design engineer.

Beyond the initial categories the Eco-Design Directive requires the European Commission to establish a working plan for the next three years. During this process, over 1,300 energy using products were identified that were finally broken down into a further 34 broad product categories. These covered categories ranging from domestic irons to welding machines to food preparation equipment through to radars and radio navigation equipment.

A manufacturer will have to consider factors such as the selection of raw material, costs of product design and energy efficiency, the manufacturing process itself as well as packaging, distribution and transport. Short term, prices could possibly rise due to the costs of research, environmental impact assessment and energy consumption testing although, in the medium to long term, manufacturers will optimise design, better control materials during the manufacturing process as well as reducing disposal costs.

The kind of things the design engineer could consider to reduce energy consumption include using lower voltage components, more efficient power supplies such as switch-mode instead of linear power supplies. Using LCD, rather than CRT, results in less power consumption and also equipment could be designed with good ventilation and lower power dissipation to avoid the need for power hungry fans.

Implementing measures are also likely to insist that designs have low power consumption when not under load. Nokia, for example, has developed a battery charger that tells the user to unplug it when not in use.

As well as minimising power consumption, easier recycling, avoiding hazardous substances and improving reliability and life expectancy are other potential benefits.

While the EuP Directive may not seem as dramatic as either the RoHS Directive or REACH Regulations there is a clear focus and impact on the electronics design engineer.

The author is Customer Support Manager, Legislation and Environmental Affairs, Premier Farnell.