Energy+ cold appliances beyond the A label, thanks to pan-European procurement

L. Wijshoff, Netherlands Agency for Energy and the Environment
Sophie Attali, ICE – International Consulting on Energy

Keywords

procurement, energy efficient cold appliances

Abstract

Energy+ is a pan-European procurement project supported by the European Commission in which 13 countries participate. By boosting the dialogue between suppliers, decision-makers at national and European levels and buyers, the project reinforces the market trends towards more energy efficient appliances. Energy+ appliances use three-quarters, or less, of the energy of equivalent appliances meeting the minimum class A requirement under the European energy-labelling scheme. The project began in 2000, targeting the most common cold appliances: refrigerator-freezers. Two major manufacturers answered positively during the first year, setting the trend for other manufacturers. This created the need to broaden the scope of Energy+ to all categories of cold appliances. The Energy+ list, which includes all appliances fulfilling the specifications, is a useful information tool for retailers and consumers. It is updated regularly, which ensures continuous and dynamic efforts of the industry. The product list often serves as a base for various national promotion schemes on cold appliances. As a parallel activity, an Energy+ competition is planned for 2004: five categories of appliances and best retail activities throughout the participating countries will be awarded.

The Energy+ project has shown that procurement can lead to the development and effective presence on the market of appliances with energy performances that go beyond the actual A-label, as the energy-efficiency form the best Energy+ model is already <0.30.