Eco-design requirements for computers: Comments from eceee to the revised proposal

(22 Jan 10) eceee welcomes that requirements at the Energy Star 5.0 levels are proposed to be introduced directly at an earlier stage and that servers are now included in the scope. For a more detailed statement, please see our comments from October 2009.

eceee’s main comments in summary

• eceee supports Energy Star Alignment in general and welcomes that the mandatory requirements at the Energy Star 5.0 levels are introduced directly at an earlier stage instead of going through a two-staged approach.
• We support that servers are included in the scope, although only by requirements on the internal power supplies.
• We support strong sleep and off mode requirements.
• We support that the requirements will be revised after three years instead of five years.
• We regret that requirements for mandatory power management set by default and mandatory display of energy consumption have been delayed by six months and propose that the earlier time limits should be kept.
• We repeat that there is a particularly strong energy efficiency benefit by removing computers from the mercury exemption list of the RoHS Directive. Laptops that use light-emitting diodes (LEDs) as backlight instead of cold-cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFL) use no mercury and are more energy efficient. The Commission should inform the working group revising the RoHS Directive that it is possible (technically and economically) to remove CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent light sources) used in LCD screens – e.g. in notebooks and integrated computers - from the RoHS exception list, from January 2012, with high energy efficiency benefits.

Download eceee’s comments as a pdf

See the summary page on computers on eceee's eco-design pages

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