Assessing how consumers understand the EU energy label – new report

CLASP, the Collaborative Labeling & Appliance Standards Program, has published a report that gives us insight into how consumers are understanding the newly designed energy labels In 2010, the original Energy Labelling Directive was recast. Its scope of applicability was broadened, and many existing labels – specifically those applying to refrigerators and freezers, washing machines, … Continue reading Assessing how consumers understand the EU energy label – new report →

Will energy labels work for vacuum cleaners

James Dyson, the inventor of the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner technology and founder of the Dyson Company, provides his views on the proposed energy labels for vacuum cleaners in an article for EurActiv. Energy labels for vacuum cleaners won’t do the job Like legislation on light bulbs, the EU’s bright environmental goals for vacuum … Continue reading Will energy labels work for vacuum cleaners →

Finally – three cheers for efficient boilers!

Coolproducts, a coalition of NGOs from all across Europe working to ensure ecodesign policy works for Europeans and the environment, finally had something to celebrate this week. One would not think it would be that difficult to approve minimum energy performance standards for boilers, but it has been a very difficult road, indeed. In fact, … Continue reading Finally – three cheers for efficient boilers! →

Positive impact from home air conditioning

Juliet Eilperin recently wrote in the Washington Post about a new study that has analysed the impact of deploying air conditioning on a wide scale to reduce deaths from excessive heat. While this is interesting indeed, it does not mention that maybe houses should be better built to integrate passive heating and cooling in order … Continue reading Positive impact from home air conditioning →

New article on energy efficiency product standards

Now that the Commission has published the Ecodesign working document for 2012-2014, our minds should be focussing more on how products can become more energy efficient. Noah Sachs recently published an article in Vanderbilt Law Review entitled “Can We Regulate Our Way to Energy Efficiency? Product Standards as Climate Policy.” In the United States, regulation … Continue reading New article on energy efficiency product standards →

Ecodesign Working Document 2012-2014 now available

According to Article 16(1) of the Ecodesign Directive, the Commission adopted on 7 December 2012 a Working Plan for the period 2012-2014, setting out an indicative list of energy-using products which will be considered in priority for the adoption of implementing measures. The Working Document is available here.

A very targeted financial instrument – for one weekend a year

The fayobserver.com in Fayetteville, North Carolina in the United States reports that North Carolina holds a sales tax holiday on the purchases of certain energy-efficient appliances on the first full weekend of November every year. If the appliances were Energy Star-qualified, met energy-efficiency guidelines established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and were purchased during … Continue reading A very targeted financial instrument – for one weekend a year →

Re-thinking energy efficiency strategies

James Murray has an excellent blog in Green Business. While the example is about the UK, there are lessons for all of Europe. Murray raises the issue of why politicians are so reluctant to support standards-based policies such as minimum energy performance standards and labelling. Unfortunately, he does not mention that most of those standards … Continue reading Re-thinking energy efficiency strategies →

Save these dates . . .

There are some excellent workshops/conferences coming up that you should consider: The next World Sustainable Energy Days conference will present the work and achievements of young researchers in the field of biomass and in the field of energy efficiency. It will be held as one of the conferences of the World Sustainable Energy Days 2013 from … Continue reading Save these dates . . . →

Air conditioning – part 2

Following last week’s post on air conditioning or not, this is a good overview by Stan Cox for Yale Environment 360 of the global impact of air conditioning. The report was on the Guardian website. Climate risks heat up as world switches on to air conditioning The world is warming, incomes are rising, and smaller … Continue reading Air conditioning – part 2 →