The European Commission adopted today four ecodesign regulations 1 to improve the energy efficiency of industrial motors, circulators, televisions, refrigerators and freezers. The regulations lay down energy efficiency requirements which will save about 190 TWh per year by 2020, which is comparable to the combined annual electricity consumption of Sweden and Austria. "This package is a milestone on the road to achieving our energy efficiency, climate change and economic recovery objectives. It will save impressive amounts of electricity, CO2 emissions and electricity costs, while creating jobs and boosting the deployment of highly innovative technologies," said Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs. The regulation on motors sets energy performance requirements for most of the electric motors used in industrial applications . Furthermore it will foster the use of "variable speed drives" adjusting the motor output to the actual needs, instead of operating always at full capacity. The energy savings triggered by the motor regulation are about 135 TWh per year by 2020.

The regulation on circulators will shift the market to "intelligent" high efficiency circulators capable of adjusting their performance to the needs of the heating system. Circulators can be found in almost every building's boiler or heating system, and the electricity savings are expected to be about 25 TWh per year by 2020. The two regulations on televisions and refrigerators/freezers will leave only the efficient products on the market. The expected annual electricity savings by 2020 are about 30 TWh. In total nine ecodesign regulations have now been put in place 2 , which are expected to save about 315 TWh electricity per year by 2020 if fully implemented. This is more than the annual electricity consumption of Italy. Further information on Ecodesign is available here.

Source: European Commission

EU Member States expressed their support for a Commission proposal to reduce the electricity consumption of circulators - which will save the equivalent of Ireland's yearly electricity consumption - during today's Ecodesign Regulatory Committee meeting. The Regulation is expected to create 7,000 jobs and make electricity savings of €2.2 billion by 2020. "The measure is a concrete contribution to reach the EU's energy efficiency and climate protection targets and will result very quickly in significant energy savings and benefits for the society and industry, as foreseen in the European Commission Economic Recovery Plan," said Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.

The Regulation 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. The regulation covers standalone circulators that are 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.

EU Member States showed their support for new rules to reduce the electricity consumption of industrial motors - which will save the equivalent of Sweden's electricity consumption each year - during today's Ecodesign Regulatory Committee meeting. The Regulation is expected to create 40,000 new jobs and make electricity savings of €9 billion by 2020.

"The measure is a concrete contribution to reach the EU's energy efficiency and climate protection targets and will result very quickly in significant energy savings and benefits for the society and industry, as foreseen in the European Economic Recovery Plan," said Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.

The Regulation will forbid the placing on the market of motors below standard IE2 efficiency by 2011 and will allow only highly-efficient IE3 motors for big motors from 2015 and for all other motors from 2017. As an alternative, standard efficiency IE2 motors can continue to be sold after 2015 if they are put into service with variable speed drives. A drive allows adapting the speed of a motor according to the needs to ensure optimal efficiency. The use of drives leads to drastic savings in energy consumption when motors run in variable speed and load applications.

The European Commission has adopted today the ecodesign regulation to reduce standby energy consumption of all household and office products. The regulation lays down energy efficiency requirements which will cut the standby electricity consumption by almost 75% by 2020. "The adoption of this first measure under the Ecodesign Directive concludes the Commission's year of energy efficiency in the best way, and underlines our commitment to energy efficiency goals which are more justified than ever in these times of financial crisis. The measure will save European citizens billions of Euros, and it will avoid millions of tons of CO2 emissions", said Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs. On 7 July, the Representatives of the Member States that form the Ecodesign Regulatory Committee endorsed the Commission's proposal for a regulation reducing standby energy consumption of household and office products. Then the proposal was send to the European Parliament for consultation, and the Commission has taken today the formal adoption, the last step of the comitology procedure.